Lunar Legends
by ThePlayer1Company
Summary: It all started with a special day in Combat Class, sparring partners were randomized. Jaune was paired with Yang. Jaune was able to keep himself from getting obliterated, and that blue glow of his aura kept him going for a lot longer than he thought possible. One thing doesn't add up, his aura is white, so why is it blue when healing him? The truth is more than anyone expected.
1. A Confusing Coma

**RWBY story, yaaaaay~!**

**Awesome Jaune story? Yep.**

**Why? He's my favorite character, followed very very closely by Ruby, THAT'S why.**

**RWBY belongs to RoosterTeeth**

**Chapter 1: A Confusing Coma**

* * *

Jaune slowly got to his feet, staring at the enemy.

It was big, it was strong, it had lots of hair, and it wanted to rip him to pieces.

Well... maybe the ripping part was a little too far, but with this unstoppable beast, it was hard to tell.

"COME ON, JAUNE! Get up so I can knock you back down again!" Yang grinned a grin that could only be compared to a barbarian. She cracked her knuckles and waited for the knight to get back up.

Jaune's aura ran along his skin in a subtle blue glow as the pain faded away... every time he got into these situations, the pain seemed to go away a little bit quicker, so maybe that was a sign of improvement?

'Improvement in not feeling like a bitch while getting knocked around like a bitch? Not much of an improvement at all really... I'm not getting much stronger from this...' he thought sadly in his head. He was stubborn, some might say his head was harder than the diamonds inside Remnant's core, but it gave him the strength to get back up.

Yang's grin brightened, "ALRIGHT!" she charged at him, her fists ready to pound him to pieces.

Jaune REALLY hated this day.

Usually the students were paired with people of similar skill level... usually, but when Professor Goodwitch had revealed a special program they'd be using today to match random people up with other people, "To spice up today's events." Jaune had found his fight literally 'spiced up' by the fiery blonde.

At least she laughed when he cracked the pun, it gave him a small amount of confidence, making such a beautiful girl laugh, and what a laugh it was! He swore that the only way to summarize how cute and pretty the noise was, was to call it a 'fairy giggle'. It was nice, certainly something that distorted his image of Yang.

Those distortions were forcefully knocked back into place at the same time that Jaune was knocked back into the wall by the initial punch.

'Looks like an angel, hits like a freight train.' he thought as he got out of the wall. His aura had taken a decent hit, but he made sure to keep his shield up and block what he could, luckily Yang's fists didn't damage his shield, though that said nothing about the arm it was held by.

Jaune let out a battlecry as he charged her in return, swinging his sword in a wide arc.

Yang was cocky, that was for sure and certain beyond any shadow or light of a doubt. She was also flashy, and so, figuring that blocking the blade would be too easy, instead smirked and backflipped to avoid the swing.

Jaune's eyes widened as the blade traveled through Yang's mass of golden blonde hair, slicing off a small lock of it, a few inches long and several strands wide.

"..." Jaune feared for his life.

Yang's energetic and bright gaze faltered when she saw Jaune staring fearfully at the floor. She traced his line of sight and her eyes flared up crimson red as she looked at the small tuft of severed hair laying on the floor.

* * *

Up in the stands, Ruby cringed, "Pyrrhy, sorry about Jauney." she said apologetically, her tone a bit meek.

Pyrrha looked at Ruby, "Is Yang... glowing?" her words were a bit fearful.

Ruby nodded, "Jaune might get killed a little bit." her silver eyes spoke only the truth.

Pyrrha gulped.

* * *

Yang's fist collided with Jaune's shield, the only thing keeping her from denting it was his aura firmly keeping it solid.

Jaune's world flew away as his body casually backed up over the sound barrier and he felt overwhelming pain all over, a slight blue glow surrounding him as he skipped over the ground a few times. He blacked out from the sheer sensory overload.

Yang snapped back to reality when she registered what just happened... she just launched Jaune _through several goddamn feet of concrete wall_ and outside the building!

Professor Goodwitch's eyes widened in shock, "Uh..." she was lost for words for a few moments, then caught herself, "Yang Xiao Long is the winner, and someone please go transport Mr. Arc to the infirmary." she announced, tapping on her scroll.

Up in the stands once more, Ruby and Pyrrha's eyes widened, and Ruby disappeared as she used her semblance to speed ahead.

Things were going to be interesting.

* * *

"Well, his body's aura has regenerated at an extraordinary rate, luckily. He should regain consciousness by tonight at six'o'clock, no later than seven." the nurse read off to the concerned group gathered.

Ren was the first to respond, a quiet, "Thank you." before walking over to his 'bro', as the two had come to call each other during their time as teammates and friends.

Ruby sped over, leaving a burst of quickly dissolving red rose petals as she quickly hugged her unconscious best friend, "Please wake up sooner~." she whined, but the whine was adorable and very genuinely concerned.

Weiss nodded, "Well, that's good." she really had no other reason to be there other than providing a small amount of moral support by basically doing nothing but showing up, and she had done so, checking off the task in her mental list. With her part done, she turned on her heels and exited the infirmary.

Blake did the same, not for lack of wanting to be there, but for lack of ability to do anything. She would show up when he awoke and say a few words, then go about her life. She and Jaune didn't have much between them, but he at least deserved to know that his friends cared that he lived.

Nora skipped over to Ren and looked at Jaune's unconscious face, "Come on, Renny, we should go... uh... st-st-study... or something." she tugged his sleeve. She would rather look at a book than at her leader's deadpanned, slightly pained expression. Ren conceded, gave Jaune a pat on the shoulder, and left with his ginger companion, her usually bubbly attitude muted by the atmosphere of the situation.

Pyrrha sat on the edge of Jaune's bed, not wanting to interrupt the younger girl's hug just to replace it with her own, as that would be selfish and rude. She placed a reassuring hand on his knee and smiled warmly at his face, however her smiled quickly faltered into a soft frown.

Yang felt conflicted. Now, beyond her flaming razorblade minefield of an exterior, Yang was an incredibly caring and kind individual. To say that her heart was made of twenty-four karat gold was a harsh and very demeaning understatement. She was radiant and strong and confident and beautiful.

She was also brash, impulsive, cocky, flirty, teasing, and incredibly vain, but only about her hair. She was Yang Xiao Long, to change anything about her would be to make her stop being Yang Xiao Long.

She had also once read Jaune's journal... that had provided more insight than she could have ever hoped for. Jaune's journal was nothing like she expected. She expected it to be a log of a few sentences per day, maybe a couple of drawings here and there, and some notes to himself. That, _or_ a recounting of him secretly creeping on the six females that make up six-sevenths of his circle of friends.

Instead what she had found were highly detailed recountings of every day he had time to write. Written progressively throughout each day, every entry she read providing insight. He had dozens of drawings, many of which were of his friends, sometimes they were made up, such as one where he had drawn a happy Weiss in a business suit and himself in an apron, titling the image 'Work Wife and House Husband', which she laughed at. He had written long, eloquent, flowery, drawn-out descriptions of his feelings for all of his female friends, detailing the facets of their beauty and reducing his more hormone-induced attraction to small, flattering statements, along with mentioning how he would most-likely never be good enough for any of them, how he was too weak and needed to be stronger, how he felt that, if he could ever win the heart of any of them, he could die a happy man.

It wasn't ideal to recall all of this golden information while looking the injured man in his unconscious face, said unconsciousness being entirely her own fault. She would wait for now. She didn't know at what point in her reminiscing that she had acquired a chair and sat on the blond knight's right, but here she was.

"You should apologize, you know." Pyrrha spoke up for the first time since Jaune's status was announced, her voice was a bit scratchy and her tone was a bit more tense than she would have liked, so she cleared her throat and took a breath, "I mean... you kno-"

"Yes I know!" Yang snapped back, before wincing at the edge in her voice and softening her tone, "I'm just thinking of how to start my apology, I mean, I really hurt him bad!" she felt horrible, if Jaune was probably anyone else, she would have killed him with what she did, it was only because of his massive aura reserves that he had even survived the blow.

Why had she hit him that hard? Sure she had lost a bit of hair, but the rest of it made the lost portion look like it wasn't even gone, and she had incidentally lost more hair than that before... she was fighting him, but she would punch _anyone_ who damaged her hair in a fight... she trusted him, because he made Ruby happy by being her friend, maybe that was it, in the moment, she had seen his damaging her hair as betraying her trust.

Jaune was a lot of things, goofy, dorky, clumsy (though he had been improving a lot), he was NOT a traitor, he may lie a bit, but he did NOT betray intention or secrets.

He was quite cowardly at times, but when it came to his friends in danger, he was a prime specimen of courage. She felt that if he acted more confident, he would probably be hot as hell, which would be a big heaping bonus to her _real_ feelings.

You see, Yang knew something important, something she and Ruby had in common:

Demisexuality.

Ruby had a crush on Jaune, Yang knew this, because he was her friend, there was an emotional connection, a feeling of trust. After Yang (who later felt very bad for it) ditched her little socially awkward sister on the first day at Beacon, and the events that followed after her ditching, Ruby connected with Jaune, as he was the first one who had showed her any significant amount of kindness after they got off the ship.

Yang could respect Jaune a lot after reading about his sisters. Apparently they all looked up to him despite his flaws, they saw her brother as a superhero, as a genius, as a big, strong, brave, noble knight, even his oldest sister, Jacaranda, who was still ten months younger than him, looked up to him. He had solemnly sworn that he would do anything his sisters asked him to if they did so nicely, or out of need of him. Yang found that extremely respectable and actually quite attractive.

'Stupid knight idiot, why'd you have to make me knock you the fuck out and then think about these feelings?' Yang thought with an angry, but surprisingly heatless tone.

Was it frustration? 'Goddammit I have to stop thinking these things before I convince myself I have a crush on him or something.' now _there_ was a thought, an interesting one.

What would being with Jaune Arc be like? That was quite a question, if she had asked any of their little clique that question, she could guess their answers.

Ruby would be confused, and upon explaining it to her, she would spout many happy words and things, painting Jaune to be some sort of super boyfriend or something, merely by his merits of being a good person.

Weiss would have basically said "Like Hell, but with more idiot blondes."

Blake would probably take the question and either not respond, or deflecting it, only to later think about it like Yang was doing now and driving herself crazy.

Nora would had similar confusion to Ruby, and then shoot the question down by saying that "Me and Renny are together... uh, but not together-together."

Pyrrha would have blushed as red as her hair, and then put the situation into simple, gentle, affectionate words.

Ren would probably be Jaune's wing-man, describing his merits and good side to her and downplaying his flaws and faults.

Yang's own response... she would have to think about that, and being in the presence of Jaune made it easier to think about.

'Let's see, he's a classic knight archetype, he's got a good sense of humor, I mean, he likes my puns for god's sake! From his descriptions he wrote on all of us, he's not some creeper who's perving on all of us under the guise of a goofy guy friend, he actually feels quite legitimately bad about all of us being 'out of his league', but... does he really think he's of such little worth? Maybe if he relaxed and stopped trying too hard to be cool, then he'd see how we all feel about him, hell, he might even get Weiss to like him...'

"Come on, sis, we should let Jaune sleep peacefully." Ruby tugged her sister's arm gently.

"You can apologize when Jaune wakes up, for now... find and procure some chicken nuggets, they're his favorite food." Pyrrha informed as she got up and started walking away.

Yang thought on it a bit, then realized why Pyrrha had dropped that bit of information, 'Dad always said that the quickest way to a man's heart is through his stomach.' she gave a giggle.

"Ruby, it's not funny." Pyrrha said, stopping and turning on her heels.

Yang simply continued giggling, causing Pyrrha to become confused, "Y-yang?" the giggling sound was very cute and pretty, and most of all, completely unlike something someone would expect from the mouth of Yang Xiao Long.

"She thinks it is, though." Ruby said with a grin, pulling her sister past the confused spartan and out of the room.

Pyrrha looked back at Jaune briefly, seeing the white glow of his aura appear slightly, then a blue glow taking its place after a few seconds.

She had always found that odd, how his aura seemed to change color when healing him, 'It's almost like it's another person's aura entirely... no, no that's just silly, who would, well, more like _could_ do that for Jaune? Nobody.' and with that thought, the redhead left.

Without anyone in earshot, Jaune let out a small groan in his unconscious state.

* * *

Jaune opened his eyes, and the sight he was expecting was not the one he got.

He gazed up at the night sky, the moon was in its waxing crescent phase, the shattered portions of the white entity were completely out of view. He stood to his feet, feeling surprisingly balanced, he was in a field of dark, rich green grass, awash in pale, milky white light. Squinting and rubbing his eyes clear, he looked around, and reached for Crocea Mors.

It was not there.

Jaune looked at himself. He was still in his clothes, still wearing his armor, but he didn't have his weapons. He tried to find his scroll, and luckily it was on his person, however the screen was blank and the device did not turn on.

"Great, I'm lost, and I don't know where I am, and I'm unarmed... I have to find a way back to Beacon, I can't give up, I have to find out where I am." he began walking.

For hours he walked, and nothing but gently rolling hills and rich grass were anywhere. Eventually, he saw three robed figures standing together near a standalone brick wall, five large lampposts illuminating the area with an ample amount of clear, clean, almost natural-looking light.

Jaune approached slowly, his body low to the ground, like Blake did with her ninja sneaking. The three figures didn't look dangerous, or even armed, but Jaune could see a strange sight; Crocea Mors resting on top of a short, wide, golden table between the three figures. Maybe if he just charged up and snatched it, and if he acted quickly he could fend them off.

'And then one of them pulls out some sort of ridiculous gun thing and shoots my head off, great plan Jaune!' he continued approaching slowly, before deciding that he may as well face them standing up, and rose to his full height, six-foot-four.

The three figures turned to him, watching without words as he approached them.

"*ahem* Hello, you three, nice night we're having." Jaune greeted in a chilled-out tone, though internally his thoughts could be summarized as a string of rapid-fire swears and prayers.

"So, hehehe, the fifth son shows his face." the one in the purple robe said in a tone Jaune couldn't quite place, it was somewhere between relief and amusement. The man's purple eyes glowed subtly from under his hood, his gaze filled with strength.

"About fucking time, man." the one in the orange robe said, a pair of orange eyes glowing from under his hood, alight with energy and excitement.

"Uh, what do you mean the fifth son?" Jaune asked hesitantly, looking at the third figure.

"..." the one in the yellow robe did not speak at first, his glowing golden eyes were distant, but then they came closer, became warmer and friendlier, more relaxed.

Then, the three men suddenly removed their robes with merely a flash of light.

Jaune swore he was looking into a set of trick mirrors.

In front of him were three figures he'd only seen in pictures back in his childhood home.

"Jaune, hello." spoke the tall, well-built blonde man in a suit of purple fullplate armor, smiling calmly, the Arc Double-Crescent symbol attached in a golden-looking metal onto the center of his chestplate, on his pauldrons, and on his boots.

"We have a lot to talk about, dude." spoke the similarly tall, though more slender and sleekly built blonde man dressed very similarly to Jaune, though with darker jeans, blacker sneakers, and a hoodie with an orange zipper. He wore armor, though it consisted of a single sleek, heavy pauldron on his left arm, a sleek, heavy bracer on his right forearm, and a pair of kneeguards, all in orange.

"Still yourself, son, the situation must be explained carefully." spoke the last man, dressed in a more militaristic style, with a yellow pauldrons, breastplate, and shinguards, as well as what seemed to be a royal blue buttcape with golden trim, Jaune recognized him easiest of all.

It was hard to not recognize the man who has a statue in front of Beacon Academy.

"I... I just don't understand what in the hell is going on." Jaune said, holding his now aching head.

"Well, my dear great great grandson, let us explain it from the beginning." Jacques Arc spoke in a wise tone.

"So dad here made a deal with the spirit of the moon, which controls all sorts of stuff like the night and the stars and, most importantly, the acts of nighttime, y'know what I mean." Jack Arc said with a suggestive grin and a wiggling of his eyebrows.

Jaune blushed a bit, and Jack laughed, "Don't be so shy, lad, that's what's keeping you from getting a girlfriend y'know." the spirit of a man spoke seriously.

Jebediah sighed, "Goddammit dad." he patted his chestplate, and suddenly a purple glow surrounded him as the mass of his fullplate armor redistributed into a pair of pauldrons, bracers, a light chestplate, and shinguards.

Jaune's eyes went wide at the sight, "Whooo-oooa~! How did you do that?"

"Armor and Protection, with neon effect, that is my semblance, Jaune, the armor shift ability is merely one of my skills." the purple-eyed man said simply, before picking up Crocea Mors and presenting it to the young knight, "This belongs to you now, by the way." he spoke reverently.

"YOINK!" Jack snatched the sword and shield with a quickness Jaune had only seen in Ruby, and he quickly flared up his orange aura as he took them into a normal stance, "Now then, Jaune, watch carefully." his orange aura flowed from his hand and into the shield, not around it, but _into_ it, and the white sheath shifted and changed, turning into a bright white sword with veins of orange light holding it in place.

"Sanctus Mendax, the holy liar. Made not of a solid mass, but of millions of strands of metal forged together, all with the intent of creating a weapon capable of taking on any form, though in standard form it is either a sheathe or a shield." Jacques spoke proudly, "My own design, glorious, is it not?"

Jaune was simply awestruck, his shield could turn into a sword this whole time?

"Not just a sword, man, an axe, a spear, a mace, and even." Jack paused to shift the weapon into a massive gauntlet, which he then used to shatter the brick wall behind him in a single punch.

"Stop, you'll only confuse him more," Jacques put a hand on Jack's head, stilling the other man, "Let me continue the explanation before things get more out of hand." he waited for Jaune to respond.

"Er, uh, r-r-r-right, right, something about the moon?" Jaune stuttered out.

"Ah, yes, the spirit of the moon. 'Waste not, want not, not to be poured down the drain, revive and reuse, come to fight again.' that is the blessing sworn to our family." the elderly knight spoke calmly and smoothly, Jaune couldn't help but think that he was really, really cool.

"And you can be 'really, really cool' too, Jaune, if you were to just relax and not try so hard around your ladyfriends." Jebediah said, his voice deep and his tone mirthful.

Jaune sighed and shook himself loose, then smiled a relaxed, calm, cool, and confident.

"BOOM! Panties wet all around!" Jack said, grinning like a barbarian, and Jaune blushed hard while not being sure if his great grandfather was indeed a barbarian or not, "Oh, a knight, a berserker, a barbarian, even a pirate, in fact I immortalized the pirate name 'Jack' into tradition, lad, and that's how I discovered a special half of my semblance." his hands lit up with aura, and a snap of his fingers caused flames to rise from his hand, "Not this half though, this half was the first half." he closed his hand and the fire was instantly put out.

"*AHEM*, where was I? Oh yes, explaining the blessing. Now that it is actually fully active, whenever you are in great danger, or you lose consciousness, one of us three will take over." Jacques gestured to Jack and Jebediah, then walked up to Jaune, standing only two inches taller, and poked him on the chest, "Copies of our spirits lie within you, Jaune, you have access to all of our powers, though you cannot use them willingly until you defeat us, individually, in a mental contest of combat skill, which might be hard for you, but I should tell you something." the progenitor of the Arc name took a step back, and his armor faded away, turning into a black working shirt, an orange undershirt, blue leggings, and brown shoes, "Before I was one of the greatest swordsmen in history, I was a baker."

Jack dropped the sword and shield on the golden table and his clothes burned away to reveal a modest civilian school uniform, "I was a scholar with a major in gymnastics."

Jebediah's armor turned into what looked like plastic and polyester, "I was a grifball player before I joined the military straight out of highschool and went off to the war that had just started."

Jaune looked at the three of them for a long time, before the message clicked in his head, "You weren't natural warriors, you were just normal people who turned your intentions for good into a great strength."

Jacques smiled, "Exactly, Jack was born into a society that had recently come out of a war, and so he was able to live the more joyous and carefree life of an adventurer. Jebediah was born into a nice household, but war started up again, and he did his duty. John grew up hearing tales of his father's and great grandfather's acts of heroism, and he was inspired, so he became a huntsman. Jaune, you are the latest in our line, and already you have shown many signs of being an Arc, and rising from normalcy into greatness."

Jaune mulled over the words, when a thought came to his head, "How come my dad isn't here then? If all my forefathers are here, then why isn't he?"

Jack's answer was low and morbid, "Because... he isn't dead yet."

Silence ruled over the quartet, Jaune's jaw having dropped, he looked at Jebediah, "But, but, how old are you then?"

"My 87th birthday passed this year." the purple-eyed man revealed calmly.

"B-b-but... h-how did you die?"

"*ahem* It is part of the blessing that there can only be two generations of blessed Arc males at one time, favoring the youth, when you were born, Jebediah's auras, his own, the copy of Jack's, and the copy of my own, were all ripped from his body, leaving him weak and stranded in Grimm territory. Despite his massive amounts of skill, he fell to the hordes." Jacques told the tale in a slightly sad tone.

"So... if I have a son..." Jaune started meekly.

"WHEN you have a son." Jack quickly corrected, glaring heatedly at the blue-eyed youth.

"When I have a son... my dad won't have aura anymore?"

All three of his ancestors nodded sadly.

Jaune felt horrible about that, he would basically permanently cripple his father's abilities by having a son of his own.

"HEY!" Jack slapped Jaune so hard it sent him into a barrel roll that crashed into the ground, "Be optimistic here. Your father would wish you well, and he can still live a nice, long life without aura, a lot of people do. What you need to know is that you have an incredible power within you, and it's not going to hurt anyone to use it. Your father's semblance is Healing and Medicine, with radiance effect, just using that power alone, which you can manifest willingly because your father's consciousness isn't blocking you, can give you energy and relieve pain, which you may have noticed it doing automatically whenever you get hit badly. The other three, like we said, you have to defeat us in a mental contest of fighting power. Basically a battle inside your head. Good luck with that, by the way." he took Jaune's hand and pulled him up to his feet with extreme ease.

Jaune processed all of this information in his head, feeling scared, then looking into Jack's eyes.

"Why are your eyes orange?" was the only question he could think of.

"Oh, that's easy, it happened the first time I used my semblance on purpose. My eyes used to be blue like yours, now they're orange, like my aura." Jaune looked at the other two, golden eyes for Jacques, purple eyes for Jebediah.

"So my irises are going to turn white when that happens?" he tried to imagine himself with white eyes.

"Exactly, Jaune, don't worry, they'll look really cool. This is also why your dad still has blue eyes, because his aura is also blue." Jack looked up at the sky, then frowned, "Shit, well, our time is nearly up." he stepped back and pulled up Sanctus Mendax, in sheathe form, again, "Last two bits of info... it's also an aura-powered energy cannon." he fired a blast of fiery energy out into the field, and a massive blast of flames burst forth from the point of impact, "And lastly, we can let you choose which one of us takes over this time, but every time after this, it'll happen automatically." he stepped back to be in a line with Jebediah and Jacques.

Jaune looked conflicted, "Where is my body?"

"In the infirmary, I was able to sense such." Jacques said, "My semblance is Aura Constructs, while it is a general ability, I can do them much easier than normal, and sense other objects."

"Well... you say that if I act cool and confident, then the girls will think I'm attractive?" Jaune looked at Jack.

Jack nodded, "I know how to bag myself a woman, I did it thousands of times." he cracked his knuckles and stepped forward.

"U-u-uh, h-hold on now! I don't want to just 'bag myself a woman', I want to charm these works of art around me, and make them like me." Jaune said in a sophisticated tone.

"I've been to lots of fancy parties, dude, I can do this." he stepped forward again.

"H-h-hold on again! I wanted to try to do this myself!" Jaune protested, puffing out his chest.

"Now Jaune, what did Pyrrha say about accepting help?" Jebediah lightly reprimanded.

"That it's okay to get help." Jaune sighed, "But... I DO want to do this myself, alright?"

"We all know your relations with the others through your memories, Jaune, it's alright." Jacques informed simply, smiling a reassuring smile.

Jaune took in a deep breath, "Alright, Jack, if things go badly, I choose you, okay?" he looked up at the sky to see the moon setting and the sun rising.

Everything fell away around him, and the last thing he saw was flames dance across his vision.

* * *

**Well, chapter 1 down, only... let's see... lots more to go.**

**So, I feel I'm writing a pretty distinct concept here.**

**Drawing a bit of inspiration from several sources, mashing it up into one big solid piece and calling it my own.**

**So, let me explain a little bit on this thing:  
**

**Jacques Arc is Jaune's great great grandfather, the one who "fought in the war" and crafted Crocea Mors, the longsword, the Yellow Death, and Sanctus Mendax, the mechashift sheathe/shield/transforming weapon/gauntlet, it can take these forms because he forged the metal with aura and his semblance was Aura Constructs, with semi-transparent glass appearance. The distinction is important because I know semblances are supposed to be unique, but what I am going by is they are unique in certain aspects.**

**Ruby's semblance would be scientifically documented as "Speed Boost, with fading red rose petal effect", where as Weiss's would be documented as "Craftable Glyphs with snowflake motif", Blake's would be "Afterimage with full color and Blink boost", and Yang's would be "Damage and Pain Energy Absorption with Fire Element Affinity"**

**Back to my point, Jacques pleaded with the spirit of the moon, and it worked. The spirit blessed his family so that the first Arc male born in a generation will inherit a copy of his forefathers' souls, thus giving him multiple auras and semblances. Jack was the first son, so his brother did not get the blessing.**

**Jack is Jaune's great grandfather, and could be compared to the teenagers growing up in the 50s, he's slick, he's a casanova, he's Jaune's best chance at getting laid, he's a furious fighter, and his motto is "Have a fiery determination and an electric passion.", not someone you'd expect to be, y'know, a great grandfather, but it's an energetic change.**

**Jebediah is Jaune's grandfather, he came of age right as a new war was starting, and before he even turned 20, he was a hero, his semblance is related to the manipulation of armor and creation of protection, and his most valuable ability is his Armor Shift, which works like Equivalent Exchange and can shift how his armor covers him, how thick it is, and stuff like that, it's hard to imagine how it works on a fundamental level, but none of the semblances make a whole lot of sense when you think about it.**

**John is Jaune's father, he was raised training and learning from his father, and is the only 'natural warrior' of the Arc lineage thus far, which is why he is disappointed at Jaune for not being a 'natural warrior' like himself, despite one of the key aspects of the Arc males being that they _aren't_ like that.**

**And now we're at Jaune. ****He looks just like his father, just a bit shorter and a lot younger. **

**It seems our favorite blonde goofball knight has a way to charm the ladies, hehe, well we'll see how that goes in the next chapter.**

**See ya later**

**Until next time**


	2. The Golden Alliance

**Hello again, I couldn't help but write more because I'm just really excited about this story**

**Reviews are welcome**

**RWBY belongs to RoosterTeeth**

**Chapter 2: A Golden Alliance**

* * *

"I feel like a gigantic dork." Yang frowned as she carried a steaming plate of chicken nuggets in one hand as she stepped into infirmary.

Jaune was still laying in his bed, it was nearly seven'o'clock already and his eyes were still closed.

Yang pulled over a chair and set the plate onto the small table next to his bed, "Wake up, ladykiller, come on." she couldn't help but eat one of the chicken nuggets. Finding that it tasted quite good, she ate another while checking the time on her scroll.

6:59 PM, it said, and Yang groaned, "I hate waitiiiiing~." she whined impatiently, frowning.

Jaune gave a small groan as he woke up slowly, blue aura glowing over his body as he took in a breath through his nose, cracking one eye open, then the other, as a pleasant smell graced his nose.

Sitting up he reached out, "Don't wanna alarm clock." he found something solid and pressed down on it.

"Whoa~! That's a little forward, don'tcha think, ladykiller?" Yang's voice said, and Jaune's eyes snapped wide open.

His hand was lightly placed right in the center of her chest, almost touching the valley of cleavage between her bountiful breasts. His arm immediately retracted quicker than he thought possible as he backed up a bit, "OHMIGOSH YANG I AM SO SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN TO! PLEASE DON'T PUNCH ME THROUGH A WALL AGAIN!" he quickly and profusely apologized in a voice that wasn't quite masculine.

Yang blushed a bit, then smiled softly, 'Oh silly Jauney-boy, I may be a demisexual, but I can be quite the dirty girl too.' she placed the plate in his lap and a hand on his leg, "It's fine, Jaune, anyways... welcome back to the world of the living!" she said with a laugh, before faltering slightly, "I, uh, I brought you some food, I heard being unconscious is hungry work." she giggled a bit more.

Jaune smiled a relaxed, calm, and cool smile, eating a chicken nugget with a smile, "Thanks, hey, listen, I'm sorry about earlier, I should have stopped my sword, but I didn't and then I hurt your hair, and I'm sorry about that."

Yang's eyes widened. She punched him through _ten feet of concrete, an energy barrier, and fifty feet past even that!_... and _he_ was apologizing to _her_.

"No Jaune, I'm sorry, I overreacted and I could have killed you!" Yang was a bit angry, why did this idiot have to be so nice?

'Okay, now's my chance, just be cool, be confident, give her a compliment, ha, that rhymed! No, Jaune, focus! I do not fear death! What I'm about to do... it can't be as bad as cutting it by accident...' he took in a breath and spoke in a calm, gentle tone, "Hehe, I probably deserved it for damaging such beautiful hair." he gently reached out and ran a hand softly and soothingly through her hair.

Yang shuddered a bit, 'Why am I so okay with this? It's... no Yang, stop thinking about that...' she was snapped out of her thoughts by Jaune's finger gently brushing over her ear, "S-s-stop that..." she weakly protested, and Jaune pulled his hand back and nodded.

"S-sorry, p-please d-don't be m-m-m-mad." he stuttered out, stuffing his mouth with a couple of chicken nuggets to prevent himself from saying more words that might make Yang punch him.

Yang sighed, "Stop that too." she hated seeing him looking so pathetic. At this point, teasing him would just feel like bullying, and Yang Xiao Long was _not_ a bully by any means.

"Huh? Stop what?" Jaune's hesitance was replaced by confusion.

"Stop being so spineless, you idiot." Yang said, giving him a small bop on the head.

"Hehe, another friend of mine said the same thing, except he was a lot harsher about it... " Jaune looked at the plate on his lap, then took another chicken nugget and took a bite from it.

"Well, maybe he was just trying to get it through to you, I mean... you would do a lot better if you believed in yourself." Yang had little idea where the words of encouragement came from, only that they were already out and she could not take them back, yet she felt like she didn't really want to.

Jaune's eyes went wide, "You... you really think so?" Yang could see the delicate hope in his eyes.

"Yes, Jaune, you could gain a lot just by believing in yourself, hell, believing in yourself is already half of it. The other half is confirming your beliefs." Yang had years of experience giving Ruby pep-talks, and knew how to say things in just the right tone to give the maximum effect.

Jaune nodded, then looked at the ceiling, thinking, 'Alright, Jack, let's see if... *gulp*... you were right...' he mustered up all the meager self esteem he had, and smiled a relaxed, calm, cool, and confident smile towards Yang, "Well, thank you, Yang, I'm sure that your advice will be a big help." his hand gently rested on her shoulder.

Yang breathed in a sharp intake of air through her nose, 'Dear god, that smile, how did I not notice how handsome he is before?... oh yeah, because usually he's too busy looking like a scaredy-cat.' she smiled, "Not a problem, Jaune... I feel like I owe you for almost, y'know, kinda, almost killing you there... sooo~, I'm going to help you out."

Jaune was a bit confused, "Help me out with what?" he had an idea, but didn't want to make any assumptions, 'You know what they say about assuming, you make an a-'

"I'm going to help you be a better fighter, and maybe a better socialite too." Yang knew the latter would be very beneficial for him, she liked helping her friends, it made her feel good about herself to make someone else feel good.

"Oh... uh, *ahem* that sounds really great! Thanks, Yang." he smiled at her again, that same charming smile that turned his visage into one of an epic storybook hero, handsome and suave.

Yang quickly swallowed the drool that threatened to escape her mouth, "No problem, I'm happy to help you whenever." she gave him a playful little punch on the shoulder. Jaune tensed up when her fist approached, but relaxed when the only contact it made was a firm tap, he was sure that any hit he took from now on would be a lot lighter than he expected it to be.

"So... when can I leave?" Jaune thought about all of the information he had been given. If he lost consciousness, there was no telling what his body would do under the control of Jebediah, Jack, or Jacques. Another morbid thought crossed his mind: if his father's being alive was allowing him to use the Healing and Medicine semblance willingly, or in most cases _automatically_... then he would have a way to know if his dad died... if the blue aura stopped working.

Shaking his head, he looked at Yang inquisitively, smiling at her once again.

Yang quickly pulled out her scroll and lifted it up, "Um, let me check the time, just a second." she made a show of having some slightly trouble, while hiding the *click* of the camera capturing Jaune's expression with her falsely frustrated words, "Uh, you can actually leave whenever, really."

The knight nodded and got out of bed, setting the plate down and taking his clothes, which had been folded up and set on a chair next to the bed for him, "Alright, uh, I'm gonna go change, then, can you please walk me to the dorms?" he said, feigning a bit of wooziness, "I'm still not feeling too steady right now."

Yang nodded, "Alright, sure, like I said, I'm going to help you out."

Jaune smiled at her again, "Thanks, again, I just know that your advice is gonna help me out a lot." he walked into the small changing room positioned at the end of the room, entering and quickly removing his gown.

The knight thought to himself, 'I still hardly understand any of what I was told... so I have multiple auras... and multiple semblances... soooo... I have even more aura than my already apparently really big amount? I knew karma would recognize all my friendly, nice, and good acts eventually! Haha!' he laughed as he pulled on his socks, 'So... it's like a video game kinda... right now I only have two powers unlocked, my own aura, and I have no idea what my semblance is, and my dad's aura, and his semblance is apparently "Healing and Medicine"... what does that really _mean_ though? I mean, healing is pretty simple and easy to understand, but medicine? Could it be, like, _any_ medicine? Maybe... if it can be painkillers and adrenaline shots... could it be steroids? I mean... I need to become stronger, maybe this new power can help me out? It's worth a shot.' when he looked in the mirror, he realized that he was fully clothed, minus his armor plates.

Stepping out, he found Yang standing a few feet away, "Ready to go, ladykiller?" she chimed with a grin.

Jaune smiled right back at her, "I'm ready, goldilocks." he said, finding the words easy to say.

Yang giggled and blushed, a faint pink color dusting her cheeks, though impossible to see clearly as she walked to the door, "Come on, the others are waiting."

Jaune got to the door first and opened it, holding it for Yang, "After you." he said, 'Holy shit, I'm on a roll! Can... dear god I hope I can keep this up!' he felt a warm happiness filling his gut.

Yang smiled and couldn't help but giggle as she walked through the door, "Thank you~." she said, directing her grin to Jaune.

This was nice, Yang found herself wishing that 'Random Sparring Partner' day had come a lot sooner, she liked this Jaune.

"So, ladykiller, have you set your sights on any ladies recently?" she broached the subject casually, hoping to fit it into this easy flow they'd found.

Jaune did not flow correctly, and regressed back to embarrassment, blushing as he looked away, "U-u-u-uhhh... y-y-yeah... k-k-kinda..."

"Oh? How many?" Yang said, trying to coax him back into relaxed mode, 'Dammit, no, NO, NOOOOO! Don't you DARE back down, ladykiller!'

Jaune went wide-eyed, "Uuuuhhhhh~... f-f-f-f-f-five..." he stuttered out shyly, 'If Yang knew that I liked her... she'd probably kill me'.

Yang's mouth scrunched up in thought, 'Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Pyrrha, Nora... is he trying to cover because it's me asking?' it was a stretch of logic, but Yang knew what men liked, and what they feared.

"Oh? Sounds like our favorite knight has a lot on his plate, anybody I know?"

"N-n-n-no."

"Are you going to tell me?"

"N-n-n-n-no."

"Are you going to stop stuttering?"

"Yes."

"Are you gonna grow a spine?"

"..."

Yang took in his silence and turned to him, "Listen, Jaune, relax, just, relax, alright."

Jaune took in a breath, held it, and let it out slowly, "Alright... now what?"

"Now smile, keep it calm and relaxed, but try to look like you know what confidence is, alright?"

Jaune took in another calming breath, shook himself loose, and then smiled, relaxed, calm, cool, and confident.

Yang smiled, "Now then, smile like that more, it fits you well." she said, crossing her arms and smiled at him coolly.

Jaune's smile faltered a bit, "Uh, h-how can you be sure?"

"Jaune, what am I?" Yang asked simply.

"Um... a brawler."

"And?"

"Blonde?"

"And?"

'Beautiful' he contemplated saying, before deciding that he actually did value his life, "On team RWBY?"

"Jaune, I am also a girl." Yang said, facepalming.

"Oh." Jaune felt really dumb now, but then again, how was he supposed to think of something so simple and basic?

"And as a girl, I know what girls like, and trust me, girls will like that smile." she assured him warmly, nodding in admiration as Jaune resumed the smile.

"S-s-so, uh... you like the smile?" Jaune wasn't all too sure.

Yang had a chance to secure a strong foothold here, "Jaune, I think that smile makes you really attractive, I mean, you're not too bad to look at normally, but that smile is, like, _super_ good looking." she said in a smooth, cool, admiring tone.

Jaune felt a swell of pride at receiving a compliment from _Yang_ of all people, it was truly an achievement, "W-well, if you say so." he once again continued the smile.

Yang's eyes roamed up and down Jaune's figure, "Stand up straight." he did so, and Yang whistled at how tall he was, six-foot-four, impressive, even her dad wasn't that tall, though her dad was a lot thicker, "Alright, from now on, you're going start working out more regularly, and vigorously, go it?" Jaune nodded in response, what Yang didn't know is that he had planned that already, "Alright, now lets go, ladykiller, stick with me and we'll get you a gi-" she stopped, 'That's just gonna make him shut down again, dammit, I have to play this off now.' she let out a cough, "Get you a good record, like, in combat class and stuff."

Jaune nodded once more, "That would be great, maybe I could finally beat Cardin." he chuckled a bit, 'And it would help me unlock those other powers, though I think that, for right now, I should learn to get good at using the ones I have... which is an unknown semblance, and a healing-related semblance.' he pondered a bit, watching Yang and taking the time to observe her figure from up close, trying his hardest to not linger on her, ah, 'womanly assets', too much.

Yang was amazing, a heart of the gold-iest gold to ever be gold, a bright, beautiful smile, an incredibly cute giggle, when he first saw her, he'd thought, 'Is she a huntress-in-training or a supermodel?'. She was strong, independent, a good big sister, kind, and now she was offering to help him become a better fighter and possibly could help him woo one of the others, or maybe... 'Maybe she likes me, and that's why she's helping me?'... naaaahhhhh, that was just a silly thought. There was no way that Yang Xiao Long had feelings for Jaune Arc.

No way at all.

* * *

There was no way that Yang Xiao Long did not have feelings for Jaune Arc.

It started off simple, a few tips that Jaune took without question, accepting her wisdom with gusto. It had been two weeks since they started.

"Uh, Yang, are you alright?" Jaune asked, his hands in the pockets of his black drawstring pants. His orange t-shirt rested easily around his frame and revealed his arms, his slim, but muscular arms.

They had almost bumped into each other while Jaune was on his way to get a drink of water and Yang was on her way back from using the bathroom.

"Hm?" Yang had been busy staring, and finally looked up into Jaune's eyes.

"I said sorry for bumping into you and you just kinda started staring at me, you alright?" his tone was casual, he had been getting some looks from the others, but he didn't let it get to him.

Yang took several moments to think, it was hard to think when looking at Jaune's smiling face, it was only when his smile faded when her thoughts went at normal speed, "Huh?"

Jaune clicked his tongue, "Are you sick?" he gently laid the back of his right hand on her forehead.

Yang felt the air heat up, she became very aware of her breathing, of both of their current attires, Jaune in a t-shirt and drawstring pants, herself in her orange tank top that bared some of her midriff and her black shorts. She felt very very exposed, but then again, just add some boots and a buttcape and it's no more revealing than her normal outfit. However, there was just something about this moment.

"You're very hot." he said, sounding concerned.

"I know..." she blinked, then shook her head, "Uh, I mean, uh, n-n-not like that." she stuttered out, blushing

Jaune chuckled a bit, Yang was pretty cute like she was right now, but it was a far cry from her usual, "Hey Yang?"

"Yeah?" she asked, her cheeks as red as her sister's cloak.

"Just relax." he echoed her own words to her, smiling and laughing through his nose at her expression.

"Shut _up._" she punched him in the arm.

Jaune winced, "You know, for someone who looks so cute, you're a lot stronger than you look."

"I am not _cute_, I leave the cute act to Ruby, I am a beautiful and strong woman." Yang crossed her arms under her breasts and gave a resounding "Hmph."

"That much is true, but denying how cute you are just makes you cuter." Jaune felt that Yang's teasing personality was starting to rub off on him as he delivered the playful line easily.

"Shut _UP._" Yang punched him in the arm harder.

Jaune cringed and focused his healing aura on the spot she hit, a soft blue glow coating his bicep, "So, I just can't figure out what you are, Yang." he set up the bomb.

"What are you talking about?"

Jaune dropped his bomb, "I can't tell if you're a huntress-in-training, a supermodel, or a heavyweight boxing champion." he chuckled lightly in a way that held no offense.

Yang blushed heavily and punched Jaune's arm so hard they both could have sworn they heard the bone creaking as his aura flared up, "HEY! I'll have you know that these curves are light and soft, thank you very much!" she put her hands to her hips and frowned at him.

Jaune backed up immediately, his relaxation and coolness melting quicker than ice cream on a Summer's day back in his home town, "Uh, s-s-s-sorry Yang, I d-d-didn't mean it like that! I'm sorry, please don't punch me through a wall." he looked away and braced himself for the punch.

The punch did not come.

Yang simply stood there, hands on hips, frown on lips, her lilac purple eyes locking with his royal blues. Jaune couldn't take it, "Please stop that."

"Stop what?"

"Stop frowning, it doesn't suit you... s-s-s-someone as... as beautiful as you... shouldn't frown, so... please... don't frown... smile." his heart was racing and his legs were 100% ready to run like hell.

Yang was shocked from her frustration by his statement, and her cheeks burned so red it looked as though he face might catch fire at any moment. Her hands clasped together in front of her and she looked at the ground, but she smiled.

Jaune smiled at her revived smile, "See? Much better." he said in a soft, gentle tone, before closing his eyes and focusing.

If he could heal and medicate himself with the blue aura, what was to say he couldn't do the same for others?

Yang sighed as a wave of calmness and comfort washed over her body, her smile widening as her eyes closed.

Jaune had to admit, she was still very cute like this, and so he increased the flow slightly.

He suddenly felt a sharp pulling and stinging sensation shoot up his arm to his core, like a shard of red-hot metal was being roughly pulled through his veins. Suddenly, the sensation went away, leaving only a phantom pain that Jaune felt go as he let out a small cough, then took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Deciding to not test if the feeling would return, he stopped channeling his aura into her, removing his hand as he did so, "I'll let you get some sleep Yang, you don't wanna be tired for classes, do you?" she shook her head softly

He walked past her with a smile, giving her a small, friendly pat on the shoulder as he passed.

Yang quickly walked to her dorm, opened the door, and slipped inside, trying her hardest to ignore her racing heart.

* * *

Jaune re-entered Team JNPR's dorm with a smile on his face, he had had a successful conversation with Yang in nearly the dead of night. It was weird, but it felt good, he had managed to compliment her and make her smile, and she had only hit him three times! In his book, that was a major success.

Speaking of his book, he really needed to write in his journal.

Taking a few minutes to prepare his colored pencils, he sat at the desk and opened his backpack, looking inside.

His journal was not there.

He panicked as quietly as he could, he could almost feel his father's aura flaring up and using the semblance to prevent him from having a heart attack.

He slowly laid on his bed and pulled his covers up over his body.

'Okay, don't panic, it's just that all of my secrets are probably in the hands of someone who will release them to everyone, and then I'll be scorned and mocked and hated by everyone.'

He could not sleep a wink.

* * *

Yang walked into her team's dorm with a quiet yawn, looking around.

She froze when she saw Weiss sitting at the desk with a book open in front of her. Her worry increased tenfold when she saw, visible from where she was standing, the drawing Jaune had affectionately titled 'Work Wife and House Husband'.

"Yang... why did I find Jaune's journal hidden under the foot of my bed?" Weiss' words were calm, though her cheeks were as red as a metric ton of fire dust.

"Uuuuhhhh~... because I didn't hide it under the head of your bed?" Yang said with a shrug and a nervous rising pitch to her voice.

"Why did you hide it under the foot of my bed?" Weiss turned fully to the larger girl.

Yang was not normally intimidated by Weiss, the petite white girl stood only five-foot-two, while Yang towered over her at five-foot-eleven. Even Ruby stood over Weiss barefooted at five-foot-four. Yang's mind quickly added Blake to the list, as she stood at five-foot-seven.

This was not a normal situation.

"Why did you have Jaune's journal to begin with?" Weiss asked, the calmness fading from her voice and being replaced with chiding.

"Why did you read it?" Yang countered.

"I was curious what that blonde dunce had written, and I was quite sure that he has been secretly 'checking us out' as someone like _you_ might put it." the white-haired heiress said with vinegar dripping from her voice.

"Jaune is a nice guy and you shouldn't be so hard on him!" Yang barely held herself back from going into angry mode as she jumped to Jaune's defense.

"I was pleasantly surprised, however, to find that that was not the case, and as it turns out, that big, scraggly, gangly dunce actually has some tact and couth." Weiss said with her frown lessening every few words.

Yang smirked, "Yeah, Jaune doesn't give a damn about your money or your name, y'know."

"No he does not." Weiss said flatly, her arms crossed

"And he's got quite a talent for art."

"Yes he does."

"And he's pretty fancy when he's talking about us."

"Yes he is."

"And he's got a handsome face."

"No he do-" Weiss was cut off when Yang whipped out her scroll and showed Weiss her background image, which was the picture she took of Jaune's relaxed, calm, cool, and confident smile.

Weiss's words died before they reached her lips as she looked at the image and blushed, smiling back at the image, "Believe me now?" Yang said teasingly

"A-a-alright... he's got a nice smile." Weiss stuttered out, hesitant to admit it.

"Yes he does." Yang egged on, smirking teasingly.

"And he looks like a..." Weiss couldn't think of the words

"Like a classic, handsome, rugged storybook hero?" Yang offered straight out of her own thoughts.

Weiss only nodded while blushing harder.

"Anyways, if you would care to put that book back under the foot of your bed, that'd be great." Yang whispered as she stretched and walked over to her and Blake's bunk.

"Why under the foot of my bed?" Weiss was still a little confused over that part.

"Weeellllll~... I'm surprised you found the book to begin with, since you're so short that you don't reach the foot of your bed." Yang giggled as she quickly retreated to her own bunk.

Weiss seethed as she picked up her pillow and threw it at Yang, "Shut up!" she whisper-yelled.

Yang went down from the pillow hitting her, but got back up easily, "My pillow now, ice queen." she grinned as she placed the pillow alongside her own and laid down.

The heiress, surprisingly, just pulled a new pillow out from under her bed and placed it in the usual spot, then she laid down, turned to Yang, and stuck her tongue out.

The brawler couldn't help but smile, they had all had an effect on the fencer, a good effect mostly, no longer did she whine at every little thing they did, rather she countered with her own remarks, or simply rolled her eyes and took it.

Laying back, Yang thought of the knight in the room across the hall.

She wouldn't mind taking him off Weiss' case, however she also knew two things.

Ruby had feelings for Jaune that she was too embarrassed to admit.

Pyrrha had feelings for Jaune that she was too subtle to get across to him.

Those two were going to be hopeless until someone pushed them to actually go for it.

Closing her eyes, Yang drifted off to happy thoughts.

* * *

Jaune could not sleep at all, so he decided to burn some energy training

'Alright... how far can I really feasibly stretch this _medicine_ power?' he had been using it regularly for the past week, and the effects were showing, he had greatly increased his calorie and protein intake just for that.

Changing into his combat clothes and equipping Crocea Mors and Sanctus Mendax, as he began calling his shield in his head, he headed to the nearest training room, 'Thank god Beacon has pretty lax training rules, though I suppose it's to force us students to be responsible with how often and how hard we train.

He headed down the hall, but paused when he heard perky female voice shout, "GO!" followed by a clanging of gunfire.

Jaune knew those gunshot sounds anywhere...

'Ruby...' he thought, before heading in the direction of the noises.

* * *

**And that's chapter 2!**

**I hope you all liked it, and I hope you all have a fantastic day.**

**next up, chapter 3: White, Yellow, Red, Black**

**until then, see ya next time~!**


	3. White Yellow Red Black

**Hey again~!**

**Thank you all for your views, favorites, and stuffs, it makes me feel awesome to have made a story that people are liking.**

**Here we are again, another few thousand words.**

**RWBY belongs to RoosterTeeth.**

**Chapter 3: White Yellow Red Black**

* * *

Ruby creased her brow and loaded Crescent Rose.

Finally, after waiting for so long, she could do this.

No distractions, no fellow students watching, nobody to make fun of her if she failed.

She hid it well, but Ruby Rose was scared of a few things, and the criticism of her peers was one of them. Being moved ahead two years may have been a status mark to some, but for Ruby...

Two years behind on all her schoolings.

Two years behind on 'growing up'.

Two years that many would say she didn't deserve.

Two years that many would point out as though it made all the difference in the world.

Ruby Rose was sick of hearing about those two years.

The silver-eyed reaper of death stepped into position two, the center of the arena.

The three 'positions' in these arenas were simple, conveniently labeled 1, 2, and 3, and placed in numbers of fourths of distance away from the wall where the door was.

One and three were for sparring matches mainly, and two was for training matches.

"GO!" she shouted, and before she knew it, several training bots had dropped in.

She looked behind her, four bots.

She looked in front of her, two bots.

She smiled.

* * *

Jaune entered the room slowly and quietly. These training rooms had a large room surrounding the actual 'arena', which were contained inside specialized transparent walls that could withstand gunfire and heavy impacts easily.

What greeted him was not his short, adorable, peppy, gothic-clothed best friend, rather it was the head of a training bot crashing against the wall.

Jaune would later tell people that he tried his hardest to keep a stiff upper lip, and he would not mention the fact that he screamed like a girl and jumped back in fright.

Once he calmed himself, he took a few more steps towards the arena.

The rest of the training bot's body crashed into the wall.

Now, Jaune Arc may have been fearful, but a coward he was not. When the going got tough, he got going.

This was not the going getting tough, this was a jump-scare.

Jaune screamed in fright once more.

* * *

Ruby pushed her surfacing memories back down into the hole she had mentally dug for them.

'This is not the time for that, this is the time to fight!'

Launching herself into the air, she used her momentum to smash one bot's head off, then she turned to see five bots approaching.

Firing Crescent Rose, Ruby went into a series of spinning swings, hurtling towards her enemies like a crimson top of bladed death.

The first was easily cleaved in half, the second not so easily, by the third her momentum was fading fast, and the fourth was slashed deeply as it fell to the ground.

The fifth training bot rushed her and slashed with its sword.

* * *

Jaune saw the events take place, and when he saw Ruby about to be hit, he shouted.

"RUBY GET OUT OF THERE!" he held his hand out as if to do something, 'Dammit! If only I had that... that armor and protection semblance thing! I could use it to protect her!'

He watched as Ruby quickly backpedaled, avoiding the sword swing easily.

Inside the arena, Ruby frowned at the bot, but quickly zoomed up, picked up Crescent Rose, and used a shot to get her and her weapon away from the melee enemy.

One shot later and it was over, entry wound, one-point-five inches wide, exit wound... well it's also one-point-five inches wide since she was dealing with metal opponents, not flesh ones.

Smiling, she found her time was very good, only thirty seconds to defeat fifteen bots, and she was a bit short of breath.

Walking to the door, she spotted a splash of white and smiled.

Jaune greeted her at the door, "Ruby, that, was, AWESOME!" he gushed, losing his Yang-given composure in the presence of the other half of the two sisters.

Ruby blushed a little, "It was nothing~... don't worry about it." she tried to wave it off, she wasn't good at accepting praise, it embarrassed her easily.

"Rubes, it was _awesome_." he gave her a friendly little reassuring pat on the shoulder and that smile Yang said that girls would like.

Silver eyes gazed up the foot-wide vertical distance to meet royal blue, and the cheeks attached to the face that the silver eyes were also attached to seemed to redden as though a trillion red roses had bloomed upon the surface.

Jaune's smile widened and became toothy as he witnessed Ruby's blush, 'She's just so adorable, especially that blush, but, I want to see her smile, she's cute, and she's really pretty too, but it's like... like a raw beauty, waiting to be forged...' he reeled his toothy grin back into the charming smile, "_You're_ awesome."

Ruby smiled, then pulled out a cookie, broke it in half, and ate one half. She looked at the other half, then handed it to Jaune shyly.

Jaune chuckled as he took it, "You know, I heard it's bad to eat sweets before exercising, it makes you throw up."

Ruby giggled, and Jaune took in the cherub-like sound and smiled wider, "I know, which is why I ate it _after_ I exercised." she countered jokingly.

Jaune thought about it, "Hmm~... alright," he nodded, "Fair enough, makes sense." he chuckled as he ate his half of the cookie.

The young girl smiled, "So, uh, were you gonna do a training match too?" she asked innocently, smiling up at him.

"Yeah, but I have to say, now I feel a little bit 'on the spot', having to follow _that_ amazing performance." he gave her a small pat on the head, then turned to the control panel.

"W-well~... m-m-maybe we could spar?" her offer was spoken with a slightly awkward tone, and she looked up at Jaune with bright eyes, poking the tips of her index fingers together innocently.

Jaune smiled, "Sure, whatever you say." it took approximately five seconds for the brotherly emotions to fade before he realized his mistake, 'Oh god no! No! NOOOOOOOO! Fighting Yang is one thing, she'll just break my bones, Ruby has a gun, a very, very big gun!'

Ruby cheered up, "Alright! Come on, let's go!" she quickly fiddled with the control panel before turning to him again, "Come on~!" she zipped into the training room again.

Jaune hesitantly followed, 'Alright, come on, Jaune, you can do this, Yang's been helping you get stronger, and improve your defense and offense, you can do this! You can do this!' he smiled as he took position one while Ruby took position three.

The robotic announcer voice called out, "THREE... TWO... ONE... SPAR!"

Jaune raised Sanctus Mendax right as a bullet that felt as strong as a cannon hit it, nearly blowing his arm back.

Nearly, the blow was actually slightly more powerful than Yang's normal punches, though a spike of pain surged up his arm to kindly remind him he could still feel it. However, his shield held strong, and he rushed forward.

One thing that Yang taught him early on was that she did not pull her punches against _anybody_, not even Ruby. Now, suffice to say, she may not pull her punches, but she did not _push_ her punches against her friends, that is to say she rarely empowered them with her semblance or her shots. Jaune's training was an exception.

Pushing himself to do the same, he charged towards Ruby, letting out a battlecry as he blocked another shot, angling it away from himself.

Twenty feet away and Ruby switched to melee, launching herself at Jaune and swinging the back of Crescent Rose at his left side.

Jaune blocked the hit, but was knocked off his feet by the momentum, getting thrown several feet away.

Ruby quickly launched herself at him again, smashing the blunt side of her scythe into...

The floor... Jaune had rolled away and gotten to his feet, now rushing at Ruby again. He swung his sword into her uncovered left side, her aura flaring up with a rosy red color as the fabric of her shirt was spared any damage, but Ruby was sent falling to the floor.

"OW!" she cried out, wincing at the stinging sensation on her arm.

"Sorry Rubes but we're sparring!" Jaune quickly said as he shield-bashed her in the chest, sending her tripping over the shaft of her weapon.

Jaune backpedaled a few feet and gave Ruby time to get up. His aura was at 70%, Ruby's had dropped from 80% to 60%.

His aura was knocked down to 50% as a bullet struck his wrist and knocked his sword from his hand. Ruby smirked as she landed a few dozen feet away, now out of Jaune's range.

'Alright, let's see... Jack said it was an aura cannon, right?' Jaune looked at his shield, then focused his aura into it.

The metal shifted and twisted into a rifle-like shape, the slit where his sword went acting as the muzzle as he focused his aura into it.

*FWZOOM*

*BANG*

The white energy beam met Ruby's bullet and appeared to almost swallow it up as it pushed forward and struck the mini-reaper directly.

Ruby cried out in pain as her aura was drained down to 30%, while Jaune was still on 40%.

'That was awesome! It really hurt though... I have to get through this... why would he shoot me like that? It... it really, _really, REALLY_ hurts... ooowwwww.' Ruby sat there on her knees, slumped and pouting, not even noticing the tears that had shot up to her eyes from the pain.

Jaune froze, the cannon shifting back into a shield as he looked at how tragically sad Ruby looked.

'Oh god no! No no no no no! I've fucked up! Oh god!' he quickly rushed over to her, his shield laying forgotten on the floor as he quickly got down level with her, his brotherly instincts screaming direction at him as he brought her into a comforting hug, "Oh god, Ruby, I'm so sorry, please don't cry, please don't cry." he hugged her tightly.

Ruby buried her head into Jaune's chest, finding solace there. She was in pain, she felt like she'd been shot with her own weapon, though there was no mass to speak of in the energy beam. The hit was searingly hot and very, very painful, however.

Jaune felt awful, he hadn't wanted to spar with Ruby, she would probably get hurt, and that wasn't good. He felt for his reserves of 'blue aura', as he had come to call it, and found that he still had most of it. He unabashedly poured it forth into Ruby's small frame.

The black-haired huntress-in-training felt great relief wash over her, and smiled a soft, warm smile. Slowly, she looked up at him, "This was a bad idea..."

"Maybe... maybe... but neither of us are hurt, and now we're hugging, I'd say it was successful." Jaune chuckled, letting his nerves settle. Suddenly, he felt a small warm, soft, gentle comforting feeling quickly rush through his arms and to his core, which he smiled more softly at as he relaxed more.

Ruby smiled more as she wrapped her arms around Jaune and hugged him back. After a what felt like a good amount of time, she spoke up, "Hugs are nice." 'WOW Ruby, nice going!' she mentally chastised herself.

Jaune chuckled softly, "Hugs _are _nice, almost as nice as you." he delivered each word carefully.

Ruby blushed, looked up at him, pouted, and booped his nose, "Shush you, don't say embarrassing stuff like that."

Jaune couldn't help but smile and hug Ruby tighter, "Oh Ruby, it's nothing to be embarrassed about, you're adorable and you know it." his smile was cheerful, warm, and happy.

Ruby blushed more, "It's embarrassiiiiing~." she whined adorably, not helping her case at all.

"Ruby, how is it embarrassing to be nice?" Jaune was disheartened by her shyness.

Ruby snapped out of her shy trance, "What? There's nothing wrong at all about being nice!"

"Exactly, so don't be so embarrassed about it, alright?" he booped her nose gently.

"Alright..." Ruby smiled a gentle, warm, and pleasant smile. Her cheeks slowly faded from a heavy embarrassed red color, to a lighter, almost sweet pink color.

They hugged for what seemed like almost half an hour, finally letting go when their combined warmth started to get uncomfortable.

Jaune stood up and dusted himself off, then helped Ruby to her feet and dusted her off as well, taking extra care to not touch her anywhere inappropriate.

Ruby smiled internally, 'Jaune is so nice.', and helped dust him off as well. Suddenly, Jaune smiled his charming smile, and Ruby found herself blushing once again, 'And he's so handsome too~.'

"Alright, so, I think we know who won." Jaune chuckled jokingly.

"I did, see?" Ruby pointed to the aura banners, which showed Ruby at 90% and Jaune at 25%.

'Huh, it looks like... I was able to restore her aura levels with the blue aura...' the blonde knight chuckled, "Alright, you won, Rubes, but only because I let you win~." he chuckled more, his charming smile plastered onto his face as he started them both off walking towards the door.

Ruby simply punched him in the arm, but it felt like only a gentle tap compared to Yang's usual punches. Jaune figured it would be okay to not react, since Ruby had hit him on his pauldron, rather than any exposed skin. Jaune felt like he needed to get more armor, at this point, what he had wasn't much. They left the training room and turned down the hall to go to the outside.

_'It was enough for me, mind you.' _Jack's voice spoke in his head.

Jaune nearly froze on the spot, 'What? Why can I hear you?'

_'It's been ten days since your last hand-off since the blessing took full form... so I can speak to you in your head now, pretty fucking awesome, huh?'_

'This is not the time, I am with Ruby and we are being friends!' the knight quickly fought down his panic and continued to smile, "So, Rubes, I can't help but have a question... why were you in the training rooms so late?"

Ruby blushed a bit, "Well... you know how I was moved ahead two years?"

"Yeah?" '_Oh right, she's pretty far from being legal.' _'SHUT THE FUCK UP! ALL OF US AREN'T LEGAL! THIS IS NOT THE TIME!'

Ruby looked away, "Well... I don't want people judging me while I'm training."

"You don't like the sound of applause?" Jaune said with a small laugh and a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Ruby couldn't help but smile, "It's not the applause I'm worried about, it's the boos, I mean, a lot of people would be quick to say that I didn't deserve my two years."

"A lot of people would be wrong then." smiling blue eyes met hopeful silvers, "Your team and mine are already, like, almost at the top of the charts."

"We're only halfway through October, you goof." Ruby stuck her tongue out.

"Just goes to show how awesome we are." a laugh followed his statement.

"Didn't you go into the red against a single Ursa Major?" the reaper quickly covered her mouth as though to catch the words before they met Jaune's ears.

Jaune briefly paused as he held the door open for her, "What? How did you know about that?"

"Uh... I... uh... I saw it?" Ruby offered.

The tall blonde smirked as they walked out into the moonlit night, "So, I wasn't wrong when I felt other people in that area. Well... I hope I at least looked cool when I dealt that finishing blow?"

"Pyrrha was there too... she helped you raise your shield with her magnet power semblance." Ruby looked up and to the left as she recalled the details.

Jaune frowned, "And here I thought that thinking about your sister gave me the strength to raise my shield in time." he laughed it off, "One flame instead of another, I guess."

"Oh yeah, speaking of Yang, I've noticed you two have been hanging out a lot more, what's up with that?" Ruby had been very surprised by how tight-lipped Yang was being, then again Ruby herself could probably ask.

"She's been helping me out because she feels guilty about what happened on Random Sparring Partner Day, so she wants to make sure that something like that doesn't happen again." Jaune smiled, "She's got a heart of gold, that one."

"Yeah~... when she's not covering it with all her crappy puns and stuff." Ruby and Yang were 'the bestest of friends' as the younger sister would say, no matter whatever else came up, they always put each other first.

Always.

"Hehe, reminds me of one of my sisters, Jacaranda." Jaune looked up at the purple-tinted sky. The moon was full and everything was lit enough to see without major assistance.

"Sisters? As in, more than one? Yang said that you had sisters, and all of them were younger." Ruby had felt lucky to even get that much from the brawler.

"Yeah, Jacaranda and I are twins, but, like, the kind that don't look alike... she has purple hair... I wish I had my journal, but someone stole it and I was too worried to sleep, which is why I came out here." Jaune pondered who could have taken it, he hoped for the best, but feared the worst.

"Yang said she was ten months younger..." Ruby recalled Yang mentioning she had read that... wait a second... "Jaune! I think Yang stole your journal!"

'_Whyyyyyyyyy?'_

"Do you know why she stole it?" Jaune didn't even sound mad, just curious.

"I think she wanted to know more about you, maybe... I'm pretty sure it happened before you two started hanging out though... I thought she would have put it back by now..." Ruby had a hand to her chin in thought, her tongue slightly poking out between her lips.

Jaune chuckled at the adorable sight, "Maybe she just forgot." that made sense, Yang wasn't the most studious of people by a long shot.

"Yeah, she might have... so tell me about your sisters, what are they like? Are you all good friends?" Ruby didn't like it when siblings didn't get along, it just didn't seem right to her.

"Well... there's me, Jaune, and then my seven sisters, in order, there's Jacaranda, Juicia, Juniper II, Jade, Jasper, Jamacia," Jaune named them off easily, "And my adopted sister Kira."

"Wow... what are they all like?" Ruby was curious.

"Well, given how we all grew up in a little estate in Coldwater-"

"The southern-most city of Vale?" Ruby had heard of the many established cities of Vale, Coldwater was the smallest.

"Yeah, good ol' country town, really. So, because of the long line of respect my family has received throughout the many years, we're actually kinda like nobles, we have this nice little mansion-like place on the north edge of town, next to a little forest of ashwood trees, growing up with what seemed like a new sister every year was tiring, but by the time I was seven, they'd all grown to love me, I was their big strong heroic big brother, despite the fact that I didn't do much except inherit the family sword and shield." Jaune took the sword affectionately in hand, unsheathing several inches of it, smiling at the blade as it shone white in the moonlight.

Ruby's eyes shimmered with mirth, "Sounds pretty awesome."

"It was, unfortunately my dad is... kind of a do-" he cut himself off from the offensive term when he remembered who he was with, Ruby, "Downer, he always scorned me for not being a natural warrior, like an Arc should... haha, he was wrong, I recently came into possession of some information, my family is actually known for rising from Average Joes into Supermans in every generation." he chuckled as he sheathed the blade, clipping the sheathe onto his belt again.

"Ha, he sounds like a big dummy." Ruby added cheerfully, grinning.

"Hehe, yeah~... you know, he promised me that if I came home for Christmas and I hadn't been kicked out of Beacon, then I could punch him in the face whenever I wanted to, and he would do nothing to retaliate." Jaune's eyes glowed a bit at the thought.

Ruby thought on that. Now, normally, she would take Jaune's statement and face value and probably encourage him, but this was family, and she knew that dads were supposed to be protective and supportive of their families. She spoke up, "Why did he say that?"

Jaune stopped, Ruby wasn't dumb, she had a very good (and cute) head on her shoulders, and in fact she was known for being able to make decent leaps of logic at times, "Ruby... will you promise me, that if I tell you this, you will share it with nobody?"

Ruby nodded seriously, knowing that such a thing meant that whatever he was about to say was very,_ very_ important, "I promise." she smiled at him, warm and reassuring was that smile, and it gave Jaune the strength to come clean.

"I don't belong in Beacon." he said, no going back now.

"I don't believe you." Ruby countered easily.

"I didn't go to combat school and I didn't pass any tests, I got fake transcripts and I lied." Jaune let the words flow out in a single breath, leaving him feeling comfortably empty.

"Oh..." Ruby stared, her mind racing, 'But Jaune has been doing pretty okay, but then again he's not really up to par, is that why he doesn't have much armor and why he was so bad at fighting? No don't be stupid Ruby, of COURSE that's why! Alright, well... this explains a lot of stuff, actually, but he's my friend! And I do NOT, BACK DOWN, AWAY, FROM, MY, FRIENDS!' "Well then... you're too far in to let go of now." she shrugged.

Jaune took several moments to process that statement, 'It's been over a month...'

'_And you're a motherfucking TEAM LEADER!'_

'That too...'

_'And Ruby isn't judging you!'_

'Wait... we don't know that!' Jaune shook his head, "Wait... you mean, you're not gonna, like, go tell Ozpin or whatever?"

"And lose my best friend? Fat chance." Ruby crossed her arms, "Jaune, you're like, the awesome big brother that I never had, you're funny, and nice, and considerate, and kind, and you aren't judgmental..." she blushed and looked away, muttering "And you're really handsome~." before looking at him again, "And you're my leader buddy! If it wasn't for you and your help, I'd be failing leadership class."

Jaune recalled that. It was a class, as the name implied, for the leaders, taught by none other than Headmaster Ozpin himself. It was the one class Jaune had A's in, for whatever reason, 'I don't know, maybe it's another trait of the Arcs? Being natural leaders...' that seemed useful.

'_Correctamundo! We aren't the best and swinging the swords at age 10, but we could win at chess against even the pros.'_

'Huh... that's why I was made leader...'

'_Yeah! And plus it gives you a chance to improve your skills!'_

'Maybe... wow, you're actually pretty helpful, Jack!'

'_I'm inside your body, I am very concerned with your well-being because I have to use this body when I take control, so why would I NOT be helpful? It would be like keying my own car!'_

"Alright, makes sense." Jaune replied to both Jack and Ruby.

"Besides, I would be a terrible friend if I just told people your secrets, and I try my best to be the best friend I can be." her tone was soft, but serious, Ruby Rose did _not_ take friendship lightly.

Jaune's only response was to smile and give Ruby a big, warm, soft, brotherly hug, "Thanks for not judging me, Rosie." he didn't know where the new little nickname came from, but thinking about it again, he found it was kinda cute.

Ruby's cheeks seemed to bloom with a thousand red roses upon hearing the nickname, 'What what is this feeling why do I feel all warm and fuzzy inside I don't understand? Help please I need to know what this is! It's... nice. It feels really, really nice.', "H-hey, what are friends for?" she giggled a bit nervously.

"Lots of stuff." Jaune replied simply, still smiling.

'Big brother doesn't really describe it... do... do I have... f-f-feelings for him?' Ruby was not ignorant of the basics of... 'bedroom stuff'... her father may have been protective, but he was smart, and knew that Ruby could either be informed about these things and be safe, or live in ignorance and make mistakes. He had chosen the lesser of the two evils, 'Would... would I be okay... with doing that stuff...? Stop it brain, don't overthink this! Jaune is really considerate, he wouldn't try to make me do anything I don't want to. Dear god I sound like Yang...'

Jaune finally let go of Ruby after a while, "We should drop our stuff off and head to bed, really."

"Or we could raid the kitchen and get ice cream." Ruby suggested slyly.

Jaune considered the option, ice cream sounded nice, but breaking the rules didn't sound nice at all, then again, Ruby was suggesting this, so maybe she had a plan? "Maybe another night?" he immediately regretted the assault he had invoked with his halfhearted.

Ruby pouted up at him, giving him puppy-dog eyes and whimpering lightly to boost the effect into an ungodly cute face.

The goofy blonde boy couldn't help but smile as he covered his eyes, "GAAAAAH! Okay I give! I give! Please stop!" he said as he fell to his knees and writhed in pretend agony.

The adorable black-and-red-haired girl cheered, "Haha~! Alright, come on! Follow me!" she pulled him up by his arm, picked him up bridal style, and activated her semblance.

Jaune felt a slight bit embarrassed at being carried like this, but he figured that this would be the way that would impede Ruby's mobility the least. The world blurred by him as they sped through the campus.

Ruby gently set Jaune on his feet as they stopped right outside the cafeteria. She giggled as the knight shook his head to clear it, his eyes aligning and taking in his new surroundings, "That was... pretty cool actually!" he said, regaining his recently-formed composure easily and marveling.

Ruby had a semblance that was as simple as she was, _'Speed Boost with red rose petal effect.' _Jack informed dutifully.

'Now then... what's _my_ semblance then?'

_'I can't really tell what it is, you just have to experiment with your aura, _yours, _not your father's nor mine, or Jebediah's or Jacques, you have to use _your_ aura and find out.'_

'And here I thought you'd be teaching me things...'

_'I'll teach you how to use _my_ aura techniques and skills, but really, you're not me, so you have to develop your _own_ aura techniques and skills.'_

'Fair enough, so what can you teach me?'

_'... I can pick a lock with aura.'_

'Sounds cool, it might come in handy here in a minute.'

_'Exactly, which is why I mentioned it.'_

"Alright, let's get into the kitchen, I have an idea on how to get to that ice cream." Jaune cracked his knuckles and grinned as they walked through the empty room.

Ruby smiled, "I could just disassemble the lock and put it back together when we're done." she gestured to a folding toolkit on her waist and patted it with a smile.

'Alright, time to look cool!' Jaune smiled and held up one finger, 'How do I do this?'

_'Just will your aura to your hand and attempt to project it in the shape you want.'_

Jaune's smile widened as his aura flowed down his arm, "Don't worry, Rosie." a key shape, made of the soft white glow of his aura, formed from the tip of his finger, "I got this."

Ruby watched with wide eyes, "Wooooow~." she had a tiny little excited smile and quickly skipped down to the end of the hall.

Jaune blinked, seeing Ruby so far away, he noticed just how... _visible_ she was. The red of her cloak seemed to stick out more than it should have even against the dim blues and grays of the room. Her silver eyes shone like a pair of mirrors, her pale, smooth skin looked soft to the touch, and her wolfish bob of red and black hair seemed to sway slightly, accenting her features nicely.

_'You know... it's usually against societal norms to have more than one girlfriend.'_

'Shush, I am not looking to make Ruby my girlfriend...'

'_But you're thinking about it now, aren't you?'_

'Ruby is really cool, and nice, and she isn't judging me for being a cheater.'

_'So why not go for it?'_

'Because Yang would kill me?'

_'She's your friend, and she wants Ruby to be happy, and Ruby is happy with you, so why not? What's the worst she would_ actually _do? Beat the shit out of you? She's done that before, and she wouldn't beat you up TOO bad because then she would upset Ruby.'_

'Right... I'll think about it, okay?'

_'That's the most I can ask for, really.'_

Ruby stood there, grinning up at him with her hands clasped behind her back, "Come on~." she grabbed his hand and led him into the lunch line. She used her lithe, swift form to her advantage and vaulted over the counter, then opened the little door for Jaune to come through.

Their target was now within sight, a door with several chains blocking it, all supported by one lock. Jaune held the lock in one hand and examined it, seeing a single keyhole and smirking, 'Alright, let's do this.'

With Jack guiding him through the steps, Jaune used his aura to fill the keyhole and open the lock. Removing it from the chains, he smiled and looked back at Ruby.

Ruby was staring at Jaune with an amazed look on her face, "That... was... AWESOME! You gotta show me how to do that!"

"Later, for now, let's just get our ice cream and go, hopefully without any trouble." Jaune said as he stood up and removed the lock from the chains...

... only to jump back in fright and internally curse when the chains rattled almost deafeningly loudly in the otherwise silent kitchen.

Ruby grit her teeth and clenches her eyes shut as she covered her ears, "Jaune, I think that might bring trouble!" she whisper-yelled once the brief echo of the rattles left.

Jaune nodded, "We should get the stuff and go as quickly as possible." he ran in with Ruby not too far behind.

The pantry was big, _really _big, and had more stuff than Jaune thought necessary, in fact the whole school seemed to have more than necessary, given how it seemed like on the busiest of days, the cafeteria was never more than halfway full. Maybe there was a reason for it?

Ruby zipped by and quickly located the ice cream machine. Jaune used his organization skills, '_Fucking nerd'_ 'Shush, storage patterns are a good thing to know!' to locate some disposable bowls, and plucked two of them as well as two plastic spoons out and quickly jogging back over to Ruby.

The short girl quickly filled the bowls nearly to the brim with strawberry ice cream and squirted a liberal layer of chocolate syrup over hers, Jaune smiling and doing the same, he liked chocolate, he also found some mint sprinkles 'I don't understand this school any more than I did when I got here' '_It's hard to understand Beacon in a lot of ways'_ and shook out an ample coating onto his bowl.

With their treats in tow, they quickly put the sprinkles and the syrup back where they belonged and reset the ice cream machine to what it had been on before they got there. Closing the door behind them, Jaune lifted the chains back under the loop of the lock and closed it again, leaving no obvious evidence they'd even entered.

Ruby sighed in relief as they sped-walked their way out of the cafeteria and outside, "That was heavy."

Jaune grinned, and belted out the movie quote "Great Scott!" to which Ruby giggled.

"I didn't know you watched movies." she said curiously, eating a spoonful of her frozen treat.

"I watch movies, I play video games, I play board games, I read comic books, I'm your typical nerd." he said with a chuckle, smiling his charming smile.

Ruby blushed a small bit, "Well you're a really really cool nerd, then."

Jaune blushed a bit, chuckling softly at her compliment, "You're really really cool yourself." one thing that Yang had drilled him in when it came to the few 'socialite' training sessions was 'When you get a compliment, either thank the person, politely wave it off, or return the compliment.'

Ruby blushed more, her cheeks taking on the color of her cloak, "Th-th-thank you." she herself had of course been drilled in Yang's 'socialite training', as the blonde had called it, and chose the response she deemed most appropriate.

The two walked in comfortable silence, their path illuminated by the moon. They ate their ice cream in peace, simply enjoying each other's presence.

_'Dooooooooo iiiiiiiiiiiiit!' _'Fine I'll ask her!' Jaune took in a breath, "Hey Ruby, do you wanna go out this weekend?" it was out there and he immediately regretted it.

"Where would we be going?" Ruby replied almost instantly.

"Uh, just into town... we could go wherever we feel like." Jaune had no idea what he was doing and had simply decided to wing it.

"Sounds like fun." Ruby said with a smile.

"Cool, we can head out... about ten AM maybe?"

"Oh, uh, ten doesn't do it for me..." Ruby looked away shyly.

"Oh? Uh, how about eleven?" Jaune tried, hoping for an early enough time to avoid any rushes.

"Nope." Ruby chirped back hesitantly.

"Why not?" Jaune was curious now, Ruby was definitely a morning person, so why was she shooting down the morning times?

"Uh... s-s-s-saturday morning cartoons..." Ruby hesitantly answered, scuffing the ground with her boot and looking down shyly.

Jaune couldn't help but smile and had to resist the urge to hug the young girl because of her sheer cuteness, "We could watch them together." he suggested somewhat enthusiastically. He hadn't watched Saturday morning cartoons in a long time.

Ruby looked up at him with a gasp, "You mean it?"

The charming blond knight chuckled softly, "If I didn't mean it, I wouldn't have said it."

Ruby threw her hands up in a cheer, "AWESOOOOOME~!" she gave Jaune a quick squeeze of a hug, then she quickly returned to her bowl of ice cream, which had already started to melt.

_'Not the kind of start to a date I would expect, but still nice, I suppose.'_

'It's _not_ a date! Shut up Jack!'

_'If you _really_ want me to shut up, you can just knock yourself unconscious, I'll take over, and after I fall asleep, I'll be asleep until ten days after the day that I took over.'_

'... I'll just put up with it for now.'

_'Smart choice if you aren't sure if you want Ruby to be your girlfriend or not.'_

'... I doubt you're _that_ skilled.'

_'I averaged fifty mates a month before I settled down, if you wanted, I could convince all the girls to-'_

'THIS CONVERSATION IS OVER!' Jaune screamed in his head, feeling like his face was on fire.

"Jaune, are you alright? Your face is red." Ruby said after about two minutes of silence.

"B-h-h-huh? Uh, I just... uh... it's cold out here." he lied, trying to ignore the slight aching in the back of his head.

"Oh... uh... here." Ruby tossed part of her cloak around Jaune's shoulders. The bright, rosy-red fabric was soft, warm, and comfortable to the touch, with a fleecy texture. It felt like wearing a hug. The blonde smiled at that, feeling his blush dying down at the innocent feeling of the fabric draped onto his shoulders.

Ruby's spoon clicked at the bottom of her bowl. She pouted a bit and licked the inside, then pulled away with a bit of melted cream on her nose. Jaune chuckled, "You uh, got something there, Rubes." he licked his thumb and wiped her nose clean, as he had done for his sisters many times.

Ruby went blank and blushed a bit, 'Why did that seem so nice? Yang's done that loads of times and it never seemed so nice... I guess it's because it's Jaune and not Yang... he's my best friend and I guess that right there goes to show that he cares about me.' she smiled as her blush faded a bit, the embarrassment-fueled red color being taken over by a softer, lighter pink.

The two continued walking for all of about ten more seconds before Ruby looked at Jaune and how much of the frozen treat he had left, "Hey... can I get some?" she looked at her own bowl, which only had a thin layer of melted ice cream left at the bottom, tiny trails scraped up by her spoon.

Jaune smiles, "Sure, here, I've eaten enough anyways." he placed his half-full bowl inside Ruby's empty one.

Ruby smiled extremely widely at the act, then began eating away at the ice cream. She was pleasantly surprised at how amazing not only the strawberry tasted, but how it mixed with the chocolate and the mint sprinkles amazingly. When the first bite was finished, she reached up on her tippy toes and gives Jaune a tiny peck on the cheek, "Thanks a ton, Jaune, this tastes amazing!" she then proceed to eat voraciously, not noticing that Jaune had entirely stopped walking.

_'DUDE! She's into you!'_

_'_DUDE! She's like fifteen!'

_'DUDE! You're like seventeen, you're not legal either!'_

'DUDE! You... actually make a good point... but, I don't wanna risk our friendship over something like this.'

_'DUDE! That's a valid concern, and I understand your reason for it, but I also understand that Ruby is awesome and I doubt she'll turn you down.'_

'I doubt that Yang won't _put me down,_ if you catch my drift.'

_'Why don't you go out with _her_ then?'_

'How do I know that Ruby won't do the same that Yang would do?'

_'... Weiss?'_

'She's beautiful and graceful and talented and I feel like if I was with her then she'd break out of her shell and be nicer to people and she'd smile.'

_'So why not?'_

'Because she kinda hates me.'

_'Okay... what about Blake?'_

'Blake is... I don't know, she's nice, she's polite, she's beautiful and graceful like Weiss, but in her own way, and she liked books... she does ninja stuff... and that's everything I know about her.'

_'Date her and find out more!'_

'No! I don't know if... _any_ of Team RWBY would be safe _and_ available to date.'

_'Okay, how about Pyrrha?'_

'Pyrrha's league isn't even _visible_ from my league.'

_'Pyrrha likes you and she's been helping you train. She smiles around you, and laughs at your jokes. She's also REALLY fucking hot bro! Why _wouldn't_ you at least _try_ to get with her?'_

'I don't know if she likes me like that.'

_'Ask another girl. Girls talk to other girls and understand them. Maybe Nora knows if Pyrrha likes you? Or maybe Nora herself likes you?'_

'No, no that's stupid, Nora likes Ren.'

_'There have been no claims staked, just today Nora said, once again, that they aren't "together-together", so as far as I can see, she's free game.'_

'Why are you trying to play matchmaker for me when you _should_ be helping me to become a better fighter?'

_'If you had a girlfriend then maybe you'd have some backbone to help fight with!' _Jack's tone was now much more serious and condescending.

'I'm going to tear you to shreds when I get my hands on you!' Jaune's own mental tone was now much more serious, though the secondary emotion was anger.

_'That's the spirit! Hate me! Hate me like you've never hated anyone before! Use your emotions to feed the fire in your soul! Do it! Now get that Rose you spineless bitch!'_

'I'll do it just to prove that I _do_ have a spine, ya old coo-' Jaune's train of thought was cut off when Ruby stuck a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth. He blushed and took it out, looking down at her with confusion written all over her face, "Uh, Ruby, why'd you do that?"

"You were silent for almost three whole minutes and you stopped walking and you looked like you were about to start billowing smoke out of your ears so I gave you some ice cream to help calm and cool you down." She answered as though it all made sense. It did in a strange way.

Jaune nodded and licked the spoon clean. Wiping his saliva off on his hoodie, he handed the spoon back to her.

The two continued walking as Ruby tore through the ice cream. When she was finished with it, they took a brief detour to a nearby trashcan to dispose of the bowls and spoons. Once back on track, the two leaders trekked back to the dorm building in comfortable silence.

Jaune felt content now, he would figure out how to prove to the annoying man inside his head that he did indeed have a spine, and he would figure out the safest way to possibly acquire romance.

For now, he was exhausted, and rest was only a few minutes away.

* * *

Jaune managed to fight the urge to sneeze with the help of his blue aura, he was back in the Forever Fall forest.

The reason for his return was right in front of him.

"Now class, pay attentionenen. As you all know good and well, weapons kill things, and good weapons kill things more dead in less time." Professor Adam Goldbutter, a man in his late twenties and a member of the Skycraft Guild, the company who designed the many airships that transported thousands of people every day across the world of Remnant. He was quirky and weird, but he was skilled and he was a huntsman. His sword, which gleamed gold in the sunlight, was strapped to his hip with what seemed to only be a leather-padded metal loop. The entire sword looked like it was made of gold.

Nobody from the trio. The lack of response graced the teacher's ears and he continued, "Wood is considered by many to be a primitive weapon material, however it has many advantages. It is more weather resistant than metal in some cases, it is lighter, it can flex and bend with some types, and it looks really, really cool." he smiled a beaming smile, showing off his four golden teeth. His sunglasses hid the full truth of his expression from view.

"Uh, teach, why are we in the Forever Fall Forest?" Cardin asked, before quickly adding, "And not the Emerald Forest? Why... here?"

"Ah, well Mr. Winchester, that is a good question. You see, behind the blackened bark of this forest is a wide range and multitude of trees! Many woods, all hiding beneath the surface. Like the edible toast that hides under the inedible layer of burnt grains, you just have to scrape off the black parts to reveal your prize!" the brown-haired professor drew his sword and slashed at a tree a few times, before raking the entire edge over the bark to scrape it off, which revealed a bright yellow wood, "HAHA! I win! This is none other than goldenrod wood! It has many many properties similar to gold and can even conduct electricity! Excellent work Mr. Goldbutter, A+ for you!" he said loudly, talking to himself. All three students knew that this professor wasn't the best at acting intelligent, but he was apparently good enough to be the Professor of the Crafting and Maintenance classes. All of the students _also_ knew that all the teachers in Beacon Academy were insane, some just hid it better than others.

Jaune thought about his situation. He was in a forest full of things he was allergic to and full of Grimm. He had an absolutely massive man clad head-to-toe in black armor on one side, Cardin on the other side, and behind him was...

Behind him was a hovering helicopter-like contraption that the professor was able to control through his sunglasses (Jaune had no idea how that was possible). It had been demonstrated earlier in the week and had two built-in machine guns on the bottom. It was called a QRRASH (pronounced 'Crash' easily enough, though that wasn't reassuring at all), which stood for 'Quad-Rotor Reconnaissance and Assault Scouting Helicopter', a nifty new piece of tech spawned from a collaboration between the Atlas military and the Skycraft Guild.

"So, students, your objective is to find and mark a healthy tree with wood deemed appropriate for practical uses... also since you three were the only ones who failed to gather sap from here as part of Professor Peach's assignment a few weeks ago, you must collect sap. Here is the equipment needed to do so... aaaaaand GO!" with that, the teacher cast a pile of yellow powder, either electric dust or some kind of metal, and with a glow of his hand, he levitated away with the powder solidifying as a platform.

Jaune wondered if Jacques' Aura Construct semblance could do something like that.

"Come, fellow knights, we would do best to work together." the incredibly tall and thick knight to his side said, his deep, bellowing voice echoing in Jaune's ears.

"I don't do well with... blondes..." Cardin said as he took his jar and his sap-gathering equipment and walked off, seemingly not wanting to deal with Jaune at all.

"Well then, _we_ can collaborate together, what do you say?" the massive man asked once more.

"Uh... sure, the more the merrier." Jaune smiled a bit, automatically going to his charming smile.

"Excellent! A pair of dashing young men like ourselves are sure to claim victory posthaste!" he chuckled heartily and looked onward as he got down on one knee and picked up the other two sets of sap-gathering equipment, "So, my name is Luke, Luke Ur'Van'Seis, and you?" he said, turning his helmet-clad head towards Jaune as much as he could.

"Uh... Jaune, Jaune Arc." Jaune said with a small smile and a laugh, "S-s-so... you're a knight too, that's cool." his eyes ran over the armor covering the other man head to toe.

A crusader-style helmet with a black base and a silver cross, the eye slits widened into ovals. He seemed to have three layers to his whole suit. A layer of scale-like plated all connected together tightly, a layer of chainmail over that, and a layer of plate mail on top. On top of it all, trailing down from shoulders to knees was a midnight-blue tabard, the man's symbol, a full moon with craters shaped vaguely into a side-profile of a woman, was printed proudly over the front.

'_See, _this_ guy has a ton on spine! Look at how proud he looks, like a goddamn war hero!'_

Jaune sighed, and Luke spoke, "Do not be sad, friend, many do not have the courage to be brave and noble knights such as us." the massive, seven-foot-even man said with pride, clenching his gauntlet-covered fist out of sheer strength.

"I'm not sad, Luke, I'm just... thinking." Jaune spoke the truth, though his thoughts saddened him somewhat.

Luke had called him a knight, when really he wasn't much of a knight, or even a warrior at all. He still had a long way to go and wasn't much better at swordplay than he was two weeks ago. He was a lot better at blocking hits, thanks to how much better Yang and Pyrrha were than him, but swordplay needed a lot of work, a _lot._

"Well, perhaps I may be of assistance? Whenever I feel sad, I think of the evils of the White Fang and my sadness is replaced by righteous desires for justice!" Luke looked far into the distance, as though staring into the horizon, or the future.

Jaune watched the larger knight, how professional he looked, how skilled, and grand, and amazing he looked.

'_One day _you'll _look like that too, bruh.'_

'Maybe... maybe...'

"Mine eyes spot a foe in the distance! Come, we have corruption to cleanse!" Luke drew his longsword and his shield, both of which were about the same size as Jaune's own longsword and shield.

Together, the white and black knights advanced towards their enemies with bravery.

* * *

**So, next chapter we'll finally see Jaune fighting some Grimm! **

**If you don't know why I specifically called this chapter what I did: White Knight, Jaune = Yellow, Ruby = Red, and Luke is the Black Knight.**

**Luke Ur'Van'Seis is property of me.**

**A bit of backstory on him: Luke likes Faunus in general, but he strongly despises the White Fang. He stands 7'0 and weighs 400 pounds, most of which is muscle. He always wears his armor, even to bed, and simply replaces the platemail (except for the helmet and boots) with his school uniform when it comes time for class. Due to how he weighs about 600 pounds in his full combat gear, he is definitely a tank. His strength matches an Ursa's paw strike easily. ****He was 18 when he joined Beacon. **

**Anything else can and will be explained in future chapters.**

**Also, sorry if this chapter was a little bit... all over the place, that's my bad, I took a long time and stuff kept coming up and so it might be a little rushed, and I might go back over it one day, but not today**

**As for now, see ya later~!**

**Stay tuned for the next chapter: Out of the Frying Forest and into the FLRE**


	4. Out of the Frying Forest and into FLRE

**Back once more and ready for some action!**

**In this chapter, we're going to see the first occurrence of the Arc Family Passing's effect called "Take the Wheel", as well as a lot of other stuff because I tend to jump around a little bit when writing**

**Enjoy~!**

**RWBY belongs to RoosterTeeth**

**Chapter 4: Out of the Frying Forest and into the FLRE**

* * *

Jaune paced himself as he followed his fellow knight. He had his sword and shield in his hand.

"Ursa! Ten'o'clock!" Luke called out in warning.

Jaune pushed his aura into his shield, turning it into a broad headed axe as he swung hard without thinking hard. The result was the axe lopping off the Ursa's attacking arm, shortly followed by Jaune pivoting up and to the left, his sword meeting its neck. He quickly ripped his sword out of its neck and continued running, easily catching up to his heavier ally.

"So, is this a bad time to ask what team you're on?" Jaune said, laughing as his aura kept his lungs supplied with fresh air.

"I lead Team FLRE, pronounced Flare, standing for Fenerion, Luke, Raiden, and Evan. Each of my comrades are skilled in the arts of blades." Luke said easily, "Each has their own set of skills, and each is kind in their own ways."

"Hm, sounds like a nice team, which one was your partner in the initiation?" Jaune felt like if he was going to die, he might as well die fighting beside a friend rather than an unknown ally.

"I was with Evan. He is quite social and thus, easy to make friends. He calls people 'bro' affectionately. There may be many better teammates to have, but there are many many worse teammates to have as well. I am more than adequately satisfied with his performance thus far." Luke was deliberate and methodical with his words. His compliments seemed... deep and wholesome, in a way, "The other two have also left me quite satisfied, I feel that we have a strong team, couple with our brotherhood and camaraderie, I believe we will go far." his words were full of a humble, but truthful hope.

Jaune could appreciate it, "So anything I need you know about your weapons before we get into any serious combat?"

"From a range I have a pistol, bored to the fifty caliber by fifty millimeter casings. My longsword reaches three feet in base form, six in greatsword form, nine in breaker form, and twelve in juggernaut form." Luke's explanation was vague, but Jaune could pick up that his sword could transform, "My shield has a reactive system that sends Dust bursting at my attacker, the effects vary on the dust. Currently I have lightning equipped." Jaune mentally jotted down everything he said for future reference.

'It would be cool to have something like that.'

_'Who knows? He might get wounded or something and give us the weapons.'_

'Jack, that's a terrible thing to hope for!'

_'I'm just giving a possibility! Jeez, don't be so sensitive.'_

"Beowolves, three of them, up ahead!" Luke pointed with his sword as he slowed his pace a little.

Jaune in turn sped up, fire burning in his soul. He started skidding to a halt as his sneakers dug furrows in the dirt as his sword sailed through the ribcage of the Beowolf in the center.

Pushing his aura through it, the blade glowed with white scrollwork as he twisted it and swung it free, sending it careening into the Beowolf on the right and slicing through an arm, through even its ribs with the age-old edge.

A shot cracked out as Luke blasted the third Beowolf in the chest, a spray of quickly dissolving blood blasting backwards and coating a tree.

The Beowolf keeled over, "So, uh, how much further?"

"Only one hundred meters to go." Luke said even as he began charging again.

Jaune followed, "So, what are you seeing up ahead?"

"Grimm, dozens of Grimm, mostly Ursa, but plenty of Beowolves too."

"Heh, Ruby would enjoy that." Jaune mused as his heart pounded in his chest.

"I assume she favors fighting Beowolves. Not an very common enemy, but the pests are an annoyance everywhere, breeding more like insects than mammals." Luke spat out, "Vile creatures, corruptions of darkness, they will taste Luna's blade." he raised his sword bravely, but then paused "Wait... do you sense that?"

"Sense what?" Jaune replied as they both halted their movements.

"It's an aura reading... a fellow student! Caught fighting these monsters! Make utmost haste, we must assist her immediately!" Luke proceeded to charge at an incredible speed, moving swift as a charging wolf rather than the striding bear speed he had been doing before.

Jaune matched him easily, adrenaline kicking in. Doing this to clear the area was just a casual extermination, but if another student was already there and fighting?

His blood nearly froze as he heard the sounds of pistol fire, he knew only one female who wielded a pistol...

* * *

Waking up to the sound of tearing paper: bad.

Turns out it's the resident ice queen tearing something: very bad.

The paper was being torn out of a book: very _very _bad.

Not bitch-slapping the diminutive girl as you take the book by force: very hard to do.

Running away: depressingly easy.

Getting to the armory in only your pajamas: lucky.

Spare outfit in your locker: even luckier.

Slipping away to go read in peace: surprisingly difficult.

Going outside Beacon to find a place: bad idea in hindsight.

Going to the Forever Fall Forest: would justify the horrible idea later by claiming insanity and overwhelming emotion, making a half-hearted promise to not do it again to the youthful leader of the team.

Finally reading the book and it turns out it's Jaune's journal: surprising, and very insightful.

Reaching the flowery poetry he had written when he thought of ways to 'woo the angels around him': not bad, she had to admit.

Big, BIG, _BIIIIIG_ group of Grimm show up when she's about halfway through reading the book?: Blake should not have bothered getting out of bed this morning.

Gambol Shroud delivered a shot to the shoulder of one Beowolf, whipping around to blast another in the leg.

She would not last very long against this many enemies. Running away at this point would only be possible by expending a lot of Aura, more than half her reserves. Staying to fight wasn't much better, but she could at least reduce the threat.

She saw two flashes of black and white approaching very, VERY quickly, and whipped Gambol Shroud back to her hand, firing two shots. She immediately regretted it.

"GAH!" Jaune fell on the ground as a bullet grazed down his chin, deflected from a slight flaring of his aura in a color he could not identify.

Not two seconds later, he was slammed into the ground by an Ursa that was knocked aside by Luke's sword swinging through its thick, beefy arm.

Jaune blacked out.

* * *

"So, this is how it's gonna be, then?" the orange-eyed man smirked, "Well, are you ready?"

Jaune groaned, "Tooooo~ be honest... I wasn't expecting it to happen like _this_, but then again, my life has never been easy." he cracked his neck.

"Right, well, I'll be off then." Jack raised his hands as Crocea Mors and Sanctus Mendax flew into his hands.

Jaune saw flames dance across his vision, and all went dark.

* * *

Blake went wide-eyed, "JAUNE!" she cried out. She didn't know it was him, it, it was an accident!

Luke drove the Ursa to the ground, his longsword's dark metal edge shifting and expanding into a six-foot-long greatsword, the blade six inches wide and an eighth of an inch thick. He swung it at an approaching Beowolf and sliced the beast in half. Suddenly, a Boarbatusk rolled at him, so he flared up his semblance.

A large hole faded into his body as Evanescence took effect, turning part of his body ethereal as the Boarbatusk hit a tree, laying on its back just long enough for Luke to angle his blade and stab it in its stomach, ending its struggles.

Suddenly, a searing heat nearly made him shut down from a PTSD attack, he looked to his side...

* * *

Jack opened his eyes and pushed himself up to his feet, or rather, Jaune's feet.

He immediately whipped his body out to form, limbering up easily with the help of his aura. He picked up Crocea Mors and Sanctus Mendax with a quick golden Aura Construct like a harpoon, bringing them to his hands.

He turned his orange eyes to the other knight, Luke, and grinned. He aimed his sword towards Blake, flames racing up the blade.

_Show me how to lie_

A thin stream of flames roasted four enemies hear her, but left her completely unharmed. He turned to Luke, "Move, dude!" he said with Jaune's vocal cords, before taking off like greased lightning on cocaine.

_You're getting better all the time_

He spun his two swords, Crocea Mors and Sanctus Mendax, in flaming circles as he shot through the Grimm like air, not losing any momentum.

Suddenly, there was a deafening roar as an Ursa, more massive than any other that the three fighters had ever seen before, so tall that the trees did not reach its shoulders when it was on all fours, approached, its footsteps cracking the ground.

_And turning all against the one,_

_Is an art that's hard to teach._

"Showtime!" Jack flung his fingers forth, sending lightning bolts arcing throughout the other Grimm. Their burning red markings suddenly turned bright, fiery orange as Jack basically took over their minds with electricity. He _loved_ that trick.

_Another clever word_

_Sets off an unsuspecting herd._

"REBEL!" he called out across the massive clearing, and all Grimm except Ursa charged the massive beast.

_And as you step back into line._

Blake was wide-eyed at the display, what had happened to Jaune to give him this power? She knew that he couldn't have spontaneously learned everything he had just done.

And yet she awaited his orders, "What about us?!" she called out to him.

_A mob jumps to their feet._

"You two, Ironhide, Sweetcheeks, kill the other Ursa!" Jack called back to her as he charged his legs with his orange Aura.

Blake felt indignant about being called 'Sweetcheeks', but she also felt slightly happy, mainly because that was a pet name from one of her favorite books. Her thoughts could dwell on that later

He took all of one second to watch as the two Hunters-in-training set about slaying the Ursa, leaving him to focus on the big one.

"Alright, Mr. Titanic, let's see how well you can DANCE!" he cracked his knuckles and charged fire through his weapons.

_Now dance, fucker, dance!_

He flew up the arm of the Ursa, slashing hundreds of times in seconds. He flashed up to the beast's shoulder looking at the field of red-marked spikes on its back.

_Man he never had a chance!_

He closed his eyes and focused as the right turned blue.

'_What's going on? I feel weird.' _Jaune's voice was now the recessive one.

'Follow my lead, channel the flames, swing the sword, GO!'

Jaune swung his right arm, wielding Crocea Mors covered in flames.

_And no one even knew_

_It was really only you._

Fire and Lightning, with translucent respective aesthetics, that was Jack's semblance. The spikes were shaven down by the searing blades as lightning ran through Jack's legs, directing the two minds down the beast's back.

Spikes fell like trees as the two ran past, 'Now! Downwards! There!' Jack jumped high into the air and boosted himself with fire jets coming out of his feet.

Together, Jaune and Jack swung the two swords down on a single point, a crack of bone and thunder emitting from the point of impact.

The massive Ursa fell as its spinal cord was severed at the point it controlled its hind legs.

_And now you steal away~!_

_Take him out today~!_

Zooming back like greased lightning on cocaine again, Jack focused once more, and both of his eyes turned blue, 'Now! I've given you control of your body. Split this fucker wide open!'

_'On it!'_ Jaune still couldn't speak, but his actions spoke louder than words.

Doing as Jack had done, he lunged with fire jetting out from his legs, propelling himself with two blades in hand. He spun around and soared into the Ursa's mouth, roasting its tongue and flesh instantly.

He reared both weapons back, then turned Sanctus Mendax into a gauntlet. He punched right at the back of the beast's throat, and a thick, resounding *CRACK* emanated from the hit, followed by a sick slicing sound as Crocea Mors followed its brother's side, roasting the insides of the massive Ursa's broken neck.

The beast fell, dead even before it fully hit the ground.

'Alright, that's all I can give, now watch a pro at work.'

_'Wait, what?'_ Jaune felt numbness, then nothing, no pain or physical feeling at all as Jack took over fully again.

_Nice word you did~!_

_You're gonna go far, kid~!_

Jack turned Sanctus Mendax back into a sword, then escaped the mouth of the Ursa, coming down to the ground and using a few blasts of fire, each cast from Crocea Mors, to simply kill off the remaining Grimm.

He turned the sword back into a sheathe, sheathed his sword, and smiled at Blake and Luke.

"... that was most impressive, dear comrade, jolly good show!" Luke clapped his hands heartily, "Jolly good show indeed!"

"Jaune... I-" Blake was already in front of him, but Jack only held her at an arm's length and smiled.

"No worries, Blakey, I did what I had to do, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't save your life?" he asked in a tone that seemed to be the perfect mix of lightheartedness, comfort, reassurance, and seriousness.

Blake blushed, the way Jaune looked when he smiled like that, it was intoxicating to her, "I... uh..." she couldn't muster words as Jack gently patted her on the head.

"A very bad friend, that's what kind, and Jaune Arc does _not_ do 'very bad friend', not at all." he gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, "Just try to be more careful next time, alright, Blakey?" he walked over to Luke and held up a hand.

Luke held up his own hand, and leather met metal as the two did a bro shake, grasping each other's hands, pulling each other in for a hearty pat on the back, and ending it with a fist pound.

"Mr. Arc! That... was... INCREDIBLLLLLEEEE!" Professor Goldbutter shouted as he lowered his platform to the group, "You destroyed that Ursa Colossus with such skill and power that I was pretty sure that I was watching an action movie or a real hunter or something like that!"

Jack grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, "Eh, all in a day's work, I suppose." he looked around, reversing the polarity of his Aura Detection sight in order to find any more Grimm, a technique known by many Hunters as Dark Sight. He found none close enough to be a problem within the amount of time he needed, "Speaking of a day's work." he rushed over to a nearby tree and cut it in half with one swing of his sword, revealing a rich, dark red wood, "Behold! Goldenrod!" he said in a joking manner, holding his hands out in presentation.

"Excellent work Mr. Arc! As I stated before, goldenrod is fucking awesome! Ms. Belladonna, if you believe yourself to be good enough to return to Beacon alone, then feel free, otherwise you may stick with us." the professor offered with a gesture of the hand.

Blake considered her options, she could go back to Beacon alone and keep Jaune's journal away from him, give it back and run, keep it secret and stick with them, or give it back and stick with them.

She could have thought of something else if given more time, but her time was up very soon.

"... is that my journal?" Jack noticed the double crescents stitched in hair-thin thread on the leather cover of the book, "You found it! Thanks, Blakey." he took it out of her hand before she could even tighten her grip on it.

"Uh... I was going to read it, but then the Grimm attacked me, so I guess you're lucky then, Jaune..." she stared at him, her mind racing with thoughts, and all of them focused on the white knight in front of her.

"Luck has most indeed been in your favor today, fellow knight! You slew the beast without it responding with its no-doubt lethal, _le__thal _attacks of devastation." Luke clapped Jaune on the back.

Jack buckled slightly under the force of the claps, "I was just fast is all..." he made sure to get the trailing off _just_ right.

'I don't get it... Jaune faked his way into Beacon, and yet, he just did _that,_ I don't understand it at all... did he just have a moment of clarity and decide to use it to his advantage? Maybe... I'll question him if I can get him alone some time...' Blake followed the two.

The walk back to Beacon had been... uneventful, really. Countless Grimm had fled upon sight of the slaughter caused by Jack Arc, others simply chose to ignore the pulsing, swirling beacon of light and fire that denoted a very powerful human.

Jack cast one glance back at where the beast had stood. Now its body had faded away, but Jack could have sworn he saw a spot of white on the forest floor, but shook it off. Probably his overactive imagination running wild, 'Now's not the time to chase ghosts.'

'_I must say... the first impression you gave was a lot less admirable than you're being right now...'_

'Well, if I pulled all my trump cards all the time, then people would find out ways around them. Also, I did that that way in order to impress you all the more when I _did_ do something awesome and serious.'

_'... you sly, magnificent bastard.'_

'Eh, what can I say? It comes with being awesome like me. So be awesome like me, Jaune.'

_'Eh... I'll try.'_

'That's all I can really ask for.' Jack smiled internally, making sure both weapons were sheathed, and popping his knuckles carefully.

Jack gave an overall air of nonchalance and relaxation. It was easy, since that's exactly what he felt. He had no fears in taking down those Grimm, though he might have feared it if it was Jaune doing it alone, but the second the boy lost consciousness, Jack had been there, had stepped in to help.

'_I just have one question concerning... all of this... Why?_'

'Well the answer to that powerful question is simple...' there was a long pause as Jack gathered his mental resources, 'That's what family _does,_ Jaune.'

'_Oh... that explains everything, actually.' _Jaune would have pissed his pants in fear, but if it meant helping or protecting his family, he would _overcome_ that fear and fight as best he could.

'See? You sound like a true Arc, Jaune, maybe you'll get a super hot girlfriend too! It ought to be pretty easy, what with all these _supermodels_ attending our hunting academy, hahaha.' Jack laughed slightly, just barely enough to be heard.

"Are you okay, Jaune?" Blake asked quickly, not sure if laughter was a normal response to everything she had seen.

"Hm? Oh, sorry Blakey, I just remembered something kinda funny." Jack said with a gently dismissive tone, the sheer charisma of it made Blake simply nod and continue walking in silence.

_'Well, this experience has been... an interesting one... _far_ different from what I expected, which was basically to black out and wake up somewhere else.'_

'That was the impression we gave? Well, we had to rush everything since your father's aura, oh sorry, your _blue aura_ was healing you at an incredible rate... you know that even without the moon's blessing, we would have massive levels of aura anyways?'

_'What? How so? I hardly understand aura.'_

'Aura is the manifestation of our soul... the strength of light. It is actually one of the most awesome, bro, and fair powers ever made. The "strength of light" thing means that the more positive a person is, the better of a person they are, and the more noble and honest and just... _positive,_ a person is, the more aura they have. Did you know that falling in love can increase your aura limit? It's the light of two souls feeding one another that does it, which is why you always see highly experienced Hunters working with large amounts of aura. Even now, the light in your soul was so bright that you broke the normal limits, though only by a small margin, you broke the normal limits on initial aura amount. You've only continued to grow with the positive emotions you've felt, the feelings of love, Jaune. I actually had _reduced _aura levels from my late-found love, due to the weakening of my inner light. What's furthermore good about aura is how _bad_ people usually have a _LOT_ less aura than good people, and thus less power and protection. This is actually why criminals have tended to hide and plot and secret, because they don't have as much protection. However, there is a catch, and that is that one's aura limits can be increased by extensive training, though it's a months-on-years process, but results come in nonetheless.'

_'This is... wow... I just... wow...'_

'Yeah, it's a lot to take in. Don't worry, I'm actually the best at helping you learn aura control. Jebediah would teach you defense, and Jacques would teach you offense.' Jack internally smiled, 'And do you know why we're training you?'

_'Because that's what family _does_?'_

'You learn fast, Jaune, must be all those video games you play. Yes, because that's what family _does._ Family will _continue_ to do it until you find yourself strong enough to take us on in a fight. We all want you to succeed, Jaune, all of us. I can actually feel that you're of greater muscle mass than I was when I was alive. That's cool, you should have your own style. Now then, let's get back to Beacon.'

_'You're the one moving my body, Jack.'_

'I know, Jaune.' Jack continued the silent walk, the only sounds being the chattering of forest critters and the sounds of their footsteps.

Blake kept glancing at the tall blonde to her left, 'What happened in the past few weeks to make Jaune fight like _that?_ Much less with such an attitude, and since when did he shield have the power to do what it did? I'm curious now... what is up with Jaune?'

In that moment, several things happened at once:

Jack smiled an extremely charming and ridiculously handsome smile at her.

Blake's combined distraction caused her to trip over an exposed root.

Jack caught her with a quick movement, holding her a good two feet off the ground.

Blake looked up at him, her cheeks red and her eyes full of confusion.

Jack spoke, "Are you alright?" his orange eyes full of concern.

Blake's mind broke, her cheeks reddening more and more with each passing moment.

Jack smirked, a brief flash of satisfaction in his eyes, before lifting the ninja to her feet, "Try not to be so distracted, alright?"

"Uh... y-yeah, I will." the amber-eyed girl responded, nodding and noting how strong Jaune had felt when he held her.

Luke spoke up, "I believe we should locate our fellow testee before we proceed all the way back to the academy." he hand a hand raised, gesturing palm up as though holding his point in his hand.

"You're out here for a test?" Blake asked, regaining her composure and looking at the two knights curiously.

"We all three failed the assignment from Professor Peach about the sap, so we came back for a retest." Jack summed it up nicely.

"In addition to locating trees of wood suitable for the construction of weapons." Luke posed, his head flicking back and forth, "Now then, we should perhaps locate our fellow, Mr. Winchester may be of questionable character, but questions tend to have answers, and the biggest answer we have is the question of whether or not we should confirm his status, to which the answer is that no comrade is to be left behind." he quickly drew his sword and pointed it forwards.

Jaune nodded, "Asshole or not, he can change, and it would be worse of us to leave him alone in a Grimm infested forest."

Blake was confused, "What is with this sudden obsession over Cardin's well-being?" she didn't understand it. Sure, there was that 'Bro Code' that she would never understand, but it didn't seem like it would apply here. Maybe there was another layer to this?

Jack sighed, "Blake... there are lots of people in this world, but there aren't enough. Every life has potential, potential for greatness, potential for good, potential for... for a lot of things. Potential for evil too, and potential for cruelty. All that is, though, is a chance, a risk based on time. We may lose a potential villain, but we'd also be losing a potential hero. I will be _damned_ before I would _dare_ to lose hope on someone who might just need a little hope put into them. We don't know his story, and we won't know if he's dead. So, I'm going to be a Huntsman and do what needs to be done; I'm going to save a life and kill a monster, and with any luck... I'll do it in one swing." he drew Crocea Mors swiftly as it became encompassed in flames.

Without another word, Jack rocketed off like greased lightning on cocaine, a speed that made Blake's head spin.

"He's talking like Cardin's already in danger..." Blake mused.

"Miss Belladonna, in our world, _everyone_ is in danger." Luke said, barely picking up the words.

* * *

Jack put on some reverse thrust to slow down to a reasonable speed, then hit the ground running, sprinting even, 'Okay, given how the outline of him is on the ground, and another sense shows a Grimm very very near him, he's obviously not okay, especially considering the drain he seems to have taken...'

'_How are you able to tell all that?'_

'You have to focus on light itself, well that's vague, but this process is difficult to explain and I'll show you later, for now... focus!'

'_On_ what?!'

'On figuring out how to save this asshole!'

_'Why are you asking me? You're the deceased epic Huntsman here!'_

'It's _your_ body, Jaune, you have a right to tell me what to do! Not saying that I'll always listen, but you're one hundred percent free to voice your opinions, concerns, and desires! Now... HELP. ME... LEADER!'

'_Stop shouting! Look, alright, I'll be honest... Cardin's a dick, I know, and personally, I only want him saved because it would be morally wrong to not save a young life.'_

'I've basically said all of this already, he hasn't made much progress towards the whole "not being a dick" thing, and so we need to scare him straight, that usually works as a strong start to being a good person, being afraid of what happens when you're a bad one.'

_'Alright, so, what now?'_

'Well I'm stuck in control until I stop being conscious, I.E. falling asleep, getting knocked out, getting anesthetized, etc... though the first one is most likely.'

Suddenly, there was a none-too-manly scream from about a hundred meters away. Jack homed in on the sound and with that same blurring speed, raced towards it.

_'How are you able to move so fast?'_

'I _could_ move faster, but every part of my power is limited in proportion to yours. If you were able to run at forty miles an hour, I would be able to run at four hundred miles. I _can,_ however, increase my outputs with my aura and especially with my semblance, if I bend it the right way.'

_'What do you mean "bend your semblance?", how would that even work?'_

'Well, you just have to focus the rhythm of your semblance, assuming you know what the rhythm is, and will it in new ways, like... Ruby's semblance is Speed Boost, correct?'

'_Yeah I think so... why?'_

'With practice she could will only certain parts of her to move quickly, or even speed up her own mind, imagine if she could read a textbook in only a few minutes! She would be a genius!'

_'She's already a genius, I mean, she designed Crescent Rose on her own.'_

'Oh yeah... I didn't really realize the implications of that...'

_'I thought you all had free access to all my memories?'_

'Just because we know what you know and have been through... doesn't mean we perceive it like you do, all we can see are the physical senses in your memories, not the emotional ones.'

_'Huh... I thought you all were all-knowing about me.'_

'Trust me, Jaune, nobody knows everything.'

'_But some people know more than others... my dad used to say that.'_

'So did mine, haha!' Jack laughed inside his head.

Then he tripped over a root, having been distracted by the mental conversation that had taken place over the course of only a couple of seconds.

Flipping head-over-heels, he took a bite out of the ground before he felt a creaking in his leg bones, followed by nearly getting whiplash as he took another bite out of the ground, then feeling something under his feet crack and break, then taking a third bite out of the ground, only aura keeping him from losing a tooth.

Fortunately, there was a nice mattress of dirt with soft crimson sheets for him to lay his sleepy head on.

* * *

"Okay... that was not my fault, but I'm still sorry." Jack apologized as he reset his nose with a pained popping sound, "Someone put a root in my way, and I lost consciousness because of the asshole who did it.

"What did we crash into?" Jaune groaned as his blue aura flashed over his body, before settling on his injured areas.

"An Ursa Major, just like a few weeks ago, except we killed it by breaking its neck with a flying kick, rather than severing it with our sword." Jack said, his hand still on his face as he massaged the knots out of his jaw muscles.

Jaune was understandably pissed off, after all, Jack had taken over his body and did some impressive things, only to then lose by _tripping over a goddamn exposed root_ at a high enough speed to crash into a kill an Ursa Major. He took Crocea Mors in his hand, "Oh hey, speaking of _our sword_." he swung it in a quick arc towards Jack...

... who then held his arm pinned behind his back... "You can't beat me with speed, Jaune, it just ain't gonna happen." Jack punctuated his sentence with a swift kick to Jaune's rear, sending him tumbling forward into the waking world.

* * *

Jaune groaned as he opened his eyes, blue aura hard at work healing the damage he had taken.

Cardin watched Jaune in awe. He had found a clearing away from the others and had smashed a hole in the tree, only to have splash back onto his armor, splattered by the heavy, tearing hit. An Ursa Major came after him again, and he locked up once more, unable to fight back with any effectiveness.

Jaune got up to his feet and rolled his shouldered, popping his joints into place and feeling looser, more flexible than before. It was the only thing he had left of Jack's occupation of his body.

Speaking of which, the voice in his head was silent.

'Hello?'

There was no response, 'Oh thank god I can think without anyone else hearing.' he looked around and saw Cardin, then he smirked.

Cardin watched as Jaune walked over, "Whoa, Jaune... I-" he was cut off by Jaune giving a quick bow.

"I heard your cries for help, Ms. Winchester." Jaune wore a teasing, shit-eating grin as he held out a helping hand.

The gray armored boy rolled his eyes and took Jaune's hand, standing up with ease, "Yeah yeah yeah... don't tell anyone, alright?"

"I won't tell anyone you scream like a girl if you don't tell anyone I have a thing for girls who smile a lot." Jaune smirked.

"That's... not really a fair trade." Cardin rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

"I know, I didn't intend to tell you something valuable, C." Jaune's tone had changed to a more relaxed and casual one, "Come on, let's head back to the academy, you think you can make it without attracting any other Ursas?" he laughed a little.

"Uh, yeah I think so, J." Cardin returned, still feeling awkward,but easing slightly at the casual tones being thrown about, "Uh, how did you do that, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well okay, I'll tell you something valuable. So, how it happened: I ran really fast... and then I tripped over a root. I ate some dirt and then accidentally kicked the Ursa in the throat so hard its neck broke. That's how it happened." Jaune clicked his tongue once, looking around, 'Alright, we just have to avoid any more Grimm.' he checked his scroll, only to find a surprising new development.

He had two aura bars present, one mostly full, the other about half empty.

"That's... wow, that's kind of spectacular, really." Cardin responded, hefting his mace onto his shoulder.

"I guess so, now come on, we need to head back to the others." Jaune sped up into a light jog

Cardin only nodded and followed without another word.

* * *

The trip had been thankfully uneventful, no doubt in part due to Jaune having calmed Cardin's fears with his relaxed demeanor, thus reducing the attraction the Grimm had to them.

'Odd,' Jaune thought, 'Even though Jack's gone, I feel like... I feel like it's easy to just keep pretending to be cool about everything... hehe, I guess I live life pretending a _lot _of things.'

Upon returning to the academy, Cardin immediately went off with only a few mumbled words, something about his team.

Jaune grinned as he began a slow, casual walk back to the dorm building, smiling and letting feelings of relaxation wash over him. His hands in his pockets, his chin up, his blue eyes shining in the sunlight.

"You're quite the odd one, Jaune." Blake said suddenly, stepping out from behind a pillar.

Jaune, to his credit, did not jump in fright, rather he simply clenched his eyes and jaw and took a sharp breath through his nose, "Blake, you sneaky ninja, you were following me?"

"Not after your alternate personality shot off like that, I don't think even Ruby could match that speed." the raven-haired girl said honestly.

The blonde boy whistled, "Woo~, I didn't realize I was going _that_ fast." he mentally took note of the words Blake had chosen, specifically 'alternate personality'.

"Right~... Jaune, what is your semblance?"

"Weeeelllllll, I don't know the full breadth of it, but it gives me some cool powers." Jaune was lying through his teeth, but he knew without being told that he had to keep his multiple auras a secret. Not only was it important to not reveal his tricks or cards, it was obviously something meant only for very special ears.

"I see... I could see a speed boost, fire in several forms, signs of a strength boost... I would say that your semblance is something along the lines of Fiery Power Boost, would I be correct?" Blake cocked her head to the side in a show of curiosity.

"I can't really say, Blakey, sorry." Jaune shrugged, "All I can _really_ say is that... I can't say anything." he gave an expression that said the same thing without words.

Blake resorted to drastic measures, "I see. So, Jaune, I read your journal."

"Oh well how'd you like i-WAIT WHAT?!" like so many times before, Jaune jumped back in fright.

"I would be lying if I said that I wasn't pleasantly surprised by what I read, you have quite a poetic talent, Jaune." Blake gave him a warm, soft smile, showing no signs of negativity, "And an artistic one too."

"I... thank you?" Jaune was having a large amount of trouble formulating words, but he quickly just laughed it off, then decided to explain it, "My mom taught me literature and art, as well as singing, dancing, cooking, cleaning, all sorts of stuff, so that I could live on my own should I need to... and then dad wanted me to become a Hunter, and all my sisters wanted me to become a Hunter too, and well... after I failed at Campfire Academy... I thought I would never make it... but now? Here I am..."

"I can tell from what you wrote and what you drew... you have a very deep and caring love for your sisters, kind of like... Yang and Ruby, almost." Blake had a theory, one she was trying to prove.

"Oh, hehe, kinda, I guess... I want my sisters to be safe, sound, and happy, always. I would do anything for them if they asked, literally if they just _asked_, Blake. I would fight a Giant Nevermore if one of my sisters wanted to play with its feathers." Jaune knew it wasn't exactly a very serious-sounding example, but then again, all of his sisters were younger than him, they would probably ask for something like that.

Blake was surprised, only slightly, but still surprised. It was obvious that Jaune held his loved ones of the fairer sex in high regard, but a claim like the one he just made... well if he could fly on fire, he could probably get up to a Nevermore and take it down. Plus, with the level of skill they all were at now? A Giant Nevermore would be about a medium-level threat.

That wasn't important right now, what was important was cementing this lesson into her friend's brain, "Well, you, sir, are quite dedicated to every female you know, "I know it's not my place to tell you that you shouldn't keep secrets, and I can understand your concerns for showing any of us that stuff, but Jaune, we're all friends and we all care for each other greatly, and that means we all care greatly about you, and everyone else... Yang said that... that we're like 'one big happy family', which even I can appreciate a bit. You need not beat yourself up for not being a good fighter, just being a good _friend_ has net you the trust of," Blake had to suppress a snicker, "Of all us 'supermodels', hehe." Blake failed to suppress her snickering. Yang's words were useful for cases like Jaune's, and Blake had long-since been used to working damage control, so the current motivational speech was of little difficulty to her.

Jaune stayed silent for a long time. He stopped walking, his blinking slowed to a bare minimum, as did his breathing. He closed his eyes, took in a breath, and held it until he couldn't resist the urge to let it go, and let it all burst out. After taking a fresh breath, he finally spoke, "Thank you, Blake. You've been a surprisingly big help. I'll do my best to return the favor one day, alright?" he gave her a pat on the shoulder, "I give you the Arc promise." and out came the charming smile.

Blake couldn't stop the crimson red blush from spreading across her cheeks. Wow he looked good when he smiled like that, "Has anyone ever told you that you have an amazing smile, Jaune? Because you do, and I think you should smile more."

"YOU should smile more." Jaune countered automatically, before realizing how silly he just sounded, "Er, I mean... you have a nice smile too... yeah... yeah..." he trailed off, looking at the ground and scuffing his shoe, "Uh... forget I said anything." his cheeks reddened a bit from embarrassment.

Blake smiled regardless, giggling a bit, "It's okay, Jaune, no matter what happened back there, you did well."

Jaune bit back a groan, "No... Jack did, and I'd love to tell you more, but I should probably go check on my team. I'll see you later, alright, Blake?" he smiled and turned on his heels, walking off.

It took the ninja a good few minutes to get her heartrate back to normal levels.

* * *

Jaune felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He suddenly leaned back under a swing of a sword, "Nice dodge." the voice of the man holding the sword said.

The blonde knight looked up to see a pair of aviators sitting atop the nose of a man with pale cyan hair and even paler skin.

Jaune gently pushed the wrist of the man aside, standing up straight again, "Uh, nice swing." he smiled.

"Nice smile." the man started the game, and Jaune was willing to play.

"Nice sword."

"Nice armor."

"Nice suit."

"Thanks, it's a special craft." the man admitted defeat in their game, pushing up his aviators and stepping back.

Jaune looked the man from head to toe. He was clad in a simple single-breasted, two-button suit, "It doesn't look all that special."

"YOU don't look all that special." the man's eyes glowed a little from behind his sunglasses, "But you are, I mean, you killed that gargantuan Ursa all by yourself and even figured out the neuro-override on Grimm." he gave a 'not bad' expression, "Amazing job, by the way, I find the back-running technique to be amazing in both form and function.

"I suppose... WAIT A SECOND! How do you-" Jaune was confused.

"Know about that? I'm Raiden, of Team FLRE, you and Luke were together when the fight broke out." the cyan-haired man smiled, "By the way, since you apparently fought exceptionally well... if you wouldn't mind, I'd like us to have a sparring match some time. Test your skills and such." his smile widened.

"Uh... o-okay." Jaune stammered out, "Uh... I mean, sounds like fun."

"I'll be looking forward to it." Raiden paused for several seconds, putting a gloved hand to his chin, "Say~, would you like to meet the rest of the team?"

"Uh... maybe later, I should check up on my own team first." Jaune watched as Raiden nodded, then turned and walked off. To say nothing of his attire, he also appeared to wear high heels with his suit. Jaune would say something, but a few things were obvious.

Raiden was obviously much faster than Jaune, and given the sheer hardness of the wrist Jaune had gently pushed away, which was only pushed away because Raiden willingly moved it, he was obviously a lot stronger too.

Jaune didn't have much to talk about, since his combat uniform was just a hoodie that had recently shrunk in the wash (at least it seemed like that), a pair of faded jeans, sneakers, and then a few armor plates stuck on top. He made it work, but if was going to truly be a hero fighting for good and a knight protecting his allies, he needed more than what he had.

Also, he just wasn't the kind of person to judge people for that kind of stuff. If Raiden made the high heels work, then he was being effective, and Jaune would hope that he did well and leave it at that.

'Okay, _finally_ no more distractions.' Jaune thought as he started on the path back to the dorm building.

* * *

Entering the dorm, Jaune made his way over to his bed, opening the closet door with one hand and removing his armor with the other. He unstrapped the plates and set them on the bed, then quickly set about removing his sweaty hoodie.

He heard a noise, shortly followed by a voice, "Ah, finally, I need more than one pencil." Pyrrha's voice spoke behind him.

Jaune turned as he removed the hot garment, "Hey, Pyr, you need another pencil you said?" he tossed the black hoodie into the clothes hamper.

Pyrrha got up on her knees, her head and upper body now visible. She was wearing a simple loose maroon shirt, her lower body hidden from view by the bed, "Oh, Jaune, hello-" Pyrrha stopped and blushed at the sight.

The process of removing his hoodie left Jaune's orange shirt riding up his chest, revealing his abs.

His glorious, delicious abs.

Also his forearms and his biceps.

All of the exposed muscles were really nice. She made a mental note to thank Yang later.

Pyrrha was suddenly thankful that her lower body was hidden behind the bed, as she was now on the swift road to soiling her shorts.

"You need a new pencil or something?" Jaune asked again with different words, hoping to solve Pyrrha's pencil dilemma.

The maroon-haired amazon forced herself to remain composed and not make any rash or sudden moves or decisions.

Then Jaune took off his shirt, his face still covered with concern, "Pyr... are you alright?"

Pyrrha felt her face grow hot. Her emerald eyes shamelessly drank in his appearance, from his thick forearms to his bulging biceps and triceps, up to his broad, strong shoulders, over the smooth, strong, pillar-like structure of his neck, down the chiseling of his pecs and abs, as well as a few marks he had received from training. She made a mental note to pay Yang handsomely and maybe even kiss her feet for a job well done.

Jaune gently laid the back of his hand over her forehead, "Your face is burning hot and red all over, Pyrrha, please, say something! What. Is. Wrong?" genuine, innocent concern filled his voice. He put his hands on her shoulders and was about to shake her when she spoke up.

"You improved quickly..." the red-haired spartan muttered, "You look a lot stronger, Jaune." her tone was... different than normal. It was more proud than usual, for one thing, but more than that, it was different in a way that he couldn't figure out.

"Uh... th-thanks, Pyr. I've been able to work hard, thanks to you. Without your help, I don't know if I had had a hope in hell of getting better." he spoke not what he mind produced, but rather what his heart felt. His words were filled with true, intense gratitude.

Pyrrha only blushed harder, "Oh... uh... w-well, Jaune, I wouldn't say THAT specifically, I just... helped you get yourself together." she played it off while remaining as humble as ever.

Jaune didn't really know what to say, but he thought of something that he felt Jack would say, "And without getting my shit together like everybody else, I'd still be a clueless newbie in over his head. Know you has been a constant pleasure, Pyrrha." and laying his charming smile at the end, he knew his point would be driven home.

Pyrrha, for her part, did not squee, swoon, faint, or flutter. She felt her heart warm and soften at Jaune's praise, unlike other people, who only gave impassioned statements that lacked heart, the blonde knight's words were robust, like a critic giving his compliments to the chef as opposed to ducks baying for bread.

As her face joined her hair in the realm of redness, she stood there a bit gobsmacked.

Jaune's smile slowly faded as Pyrrha remained silent, "Pyrrha? Pyrrha~? Pyrrha! Pyrrha, you in there?" he resisted the urge to knock on her head like a door, "Pyrrha you're scaring me! Say something!" he waved a hand in front of her eyes.

When not even that had any effect, he contemplated shaking her, but refrained from that and instead decided to go through standard procedure as far as he could remember, "We should get you to the infirmary, get the professionals to take care of you." he didn't risk a carrying method that would impede his speed so instead quickly gathered her up in a bridal carry, one of her arms around his shoulders and supporting her middle back and the back of her thighs to keep her steady, he focused in his mind the shape of a hand opening the door and was satisfied by a small click. He hadn't had much practice, but those aura constructs were really convenient!

"Jaune!" Pyrrha exclaimed suddenly, shocked out of her reverie by her partner picking her up, "W-what are you doing?"

"Getting you to the infirmary! Luckily you seem to still be mentally present enough! Now hold on, I'm not letting you get all sick and stuff on my watch!" he opened the dorm's door with his foot.

"Jaune I'm fine!" the amazon exclaimed while trying to ignore how comfortable she felt in her leader's hold.

"That's what my friend Derek once said, and it turned out he had asthma." the knight shot back as he started running down the hall.

Pyrrha paled slightly at those words. Asthma was not common, but it was a strong career-ending condition for a Hunter, given how strenuous of tasks they are given all the time, and how the illness basically made it next to impossible to do any of those tasks.

"I don't have asthma and I'm not sick! It was just... really hot in our room!" the mistralian huntress answered truthfully, though her words were more full of implications than of literals.

Royal blue met emerald green as Jaune stopped only a few feet from the door to the stairwell, "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Pyrrha said, "Now please, PUT ME DOWN~!" her whine came with little heat, but she tried to sound irritated at him.

The desired effect was achieved, "O-okay, Pyr, s-sorry, I was just... worried, y'know? It's up to me to make sure my partner is okay, and that my team is healthy and functioning, s-so, uh... points for heart?"

"I give you an A- for heart, A+ for effort and a solid A for reaction." she graded jokingly, feeling Jaune's easygoing attitude relaxing the tension.

"Why not switch that first and third grade? I was legitimately worried for you!" and like that, her blush was returning.

"Er... r-right, let's just get back to the room, okay?"

Jaune grinned and picked Pyrrha up once more, "You know, for someone almost my size, you're not as heavy as I expected."

Pyrrha would have felt offended, but the words were spoken so innocently and without offense that she found it hard. She WAS only a few inches shorter than Jaune, not that she minded or questioned it, her parents were both tall, so only natural that she would be as well, "Only you, Jaune, would be able to say that to a girl and not offend her."

"Well~... I don't mean to offend anybody." the blonde said honestly, "If I offend someone, then I feel that I need to apologize and make up for it to them, it's just how I was raised."

At this point, Pyrrha felt that her bank account would weep with all the people she owed money to, Yang, Jaune's parents, the rest of their friends for not making any moves on him- "OH! I almost forgot I have to turn in that paper to Professor Port!" Jaune focused aura into his legs, and with surprising ease, sped back to their dorm.

Placing his passenger down gently, he gave her a pat on the shoulder, "Here, in case you're actually a little sick or something." he dropped a heavy dosage of his blue aura into her without hesitation, feeling a pulsating pulling and pushing feeling course up his arm like a hum of low-frequency electricity.

He grabbed his bag and called back a "See ya later." as he ran out into the hallway. Jaune blinked several times as he thought he saw sparkles in the hallway as he ran like hell to the teacher's room.

It was probably just his imagination.

Nothing to be worried about.

* * *

**aaaand here, I guess**

**I swear, my mind just did NOT know where to end this chapter, but I finally found a good point I think.**

**And we introduce Jaune's favorite spartan, the only spartan he knows (so his favorite by default).**

**More to come, more lovely, lively, and livid ladies for our protagonist to unwillingly charm with his mannerisms and good looks.**

**Stay tuned for the next chapter: The Blood Moon out on the town.**


	5. Blood Moon's day out on the town

**Welcome back!**

**Nice to see you looking so good, DAMN you look ****_fine_****, today, reader.**

**One person commented on the sparkles... well let's just say that that ties into Jaune's semblance, whatever it is~. You won't find out until he does.**

**But enough talk, let's get on with the story!**

**RWBY belongs to RoosterTeeth**

**Chapter 5: The Blood Moon's day out on the town.**

* * *

The door clicked behind Blake as she entered her team's dorm room.

"BLAKEY!" Ruby shouted as she immediately sped over and latched onto the ninja in a big hug, "I was so worried! Weiss said that you took some book and ran off and you didn't come back and I was worried because I thought you had run away and I didn't want to lose one of my teammates because that would make me a bad leader!" finally Ruby took a breath, her face red from lack of oxygen.

Blake blushes slightly, "Ruby... I'm fine, okay? I can handle myself, I was just saving a book from Weiss tearing it."

"She said that the page had drawings on it and stuffs! I don't know who drew in the book but it wasn't nice. I know that tearing the page out isn't good either, but why did you run away?"

"I'm sorry, Ruby." Blake finally freed her arms from the younger girl's hug, "I got upset and I ran off and I promise I won't do it again." handling children was something Blake had limited experience with, but spending time with Yang had given Blake enough experience to get by in this minor occurrence.

"Okay, you better not! Or I'll tie you up or something!" Ruby ordered with a pout.

"Oh, oh no, however will I escape a knot when my weapon involves them regularly?" the raven-haired girl retorted with a deadpan tone and a soft smile.

"My dad taught me how to tie a special knot called the F-U knot, he said that whoever I tie up with it will be shouting that at me because they can't get free!" the way Ruby's smile beamed told Blake that she had no idea what 'F-U' really meant, or the implications of saying it.

"Uh, try not to say that, from now on, it's not a nice thing to say. When people say that it means that they're really really mad, so don't say it, okay?"

The red scythe-wielder smiled and nodded, "Alright, Blake, thanks for the advice! I mean, you're the smartest person on the team, so I can only assume you know what you're talking about... OOH! I have to make sure I have stuff!" with a fluttering of her cloak, she sped over to the closet she shared with Weiss.

"Have stuff?"

"Oh! I never told anyone about that! Jaune and I are going out into Vale this Saturday for, like, stuff... and stuff..." Ruby put a finger to her chin, "He didn't really describe it... he just asked me if I wanted to go with him into Vale, and I accepted, since, y'know, why not? I get to hang with my bestie and maybe I can con him into getting me some cookies!" Ruby continued rambling as she organized an outfit for the next day.

Blake's mind shut off external stimuli as she processed the information Ruby had thoughtlessly spouted, 'Does she even realize what she's implying? Did... did Jaune ask her out on a date, and Ruby just doesn't realize, or... are they legitimately just going to Vale together with no strings attached? Wait... this Saturday?'

"... and I mean, I just thought to myself, 'Well Jaune is like, my bestest friend' and so a chance to hang out with him in the city of opportunity was like, super awesome!" Ruby continued.

"H-hey, Ruby?" the ninja started uneasily.

"Yeah, Blakey?"

"You realize Saturday is tomorrow, right?"

"Huh? Oh... OH! So it is! Thanks Blake! With all this schoolwork I sometimes forget what day it is, hehe." Ruby continued her rambling, unaware of Blake's blank, deadpan staring at the floor.

* * *

Waking up early with his semi-adjusted new body-clock, Jaune opened his eyes just barely to see twin pools of emerald green looking at him from some distance across the room.

The sky was still dark, the moonlight streaming in through the window as the knight's eyes adjusted and he read his bedside clock, 5:47 AM was what it proudly announced with its LED numbers, almost an hour before breakfast started getting served.

With such time on his hands, Jaune felt it best not to waste it, and so he got up and dressed in his hoodie, jeans, belts, and sneakers, he glanced back at the twin pools of emerald green, still staring at him.

"Staring is rude, Pyrrha." he said quietly, and just like that, the eyes disappeared, presumably behind their lids as the spartan's apparent act of watching him was brought to a sudden halt.

Hearing the bedsprings creak slightly with the amazon settling down on top of them again, Jaune smirked in satisfaction and exited the room, closing the door behind him.

It took Pyrrha a while to will herself to stillness.

* * *

Making his way down to the training room, armor strapped onto his chest, shoulders, and lower forearms, shield and sword strapped to his side, he felt prepared.

He looked over the signs above the training rooms. Room 3 was closed for repairs, Rooms 5 and onwards were a bit further than he wished to walk, and Rooms 1 and 2 usually really stinky and he was looking to kill time, not appetite, so he went with Room 4.

Inside, he pressed a few buttons on the control panel before stepping inside.

Standing in the middle of the arena was Luke Ur'Van'Seis, the massive black-armored knight he met yesterday.

Jaune's reaction was appropriate. "HOLY SHIT!" he jumped back with his hand instantly at his sword, "Whoa, man! Jeez! Not cool!"

Luke chuckled heartily, "I'm surprised anyone even came here."

"Does EVERYONE use the training rooms at the oddest hours?" Jaune recalled Ruby's presence in this very training room two nights ago.

"Jaune, friend, when you're up at odd hours, you tend to find nobody, or people doing things at odd hours." Luke replied, hefting his sword off the ground and kicking his shield up off his shin and foot and into his hand, "Care for a friendly duel, friend?"

Jaune looked at the taller, thicker, and generally much more imposing man. Having such a man as an ally would be greatly beneficial, "I accept." he gave Luke a quick broshake, feeling like his lungs came loose from the pat on the back.

"I haven't gotten a chance to compare to, well, a fellow swordsman, and Pyrrha's style isn't exactly as... solid as mine... n-n-not that I'm dissing her style or anything!" Jaune tried to backtrack, but fell short in his head.

"I understand your meaning, her's is a style more liquid and free-flowing, prone to adaptation and flexibility. Yes, Pyrrha Nikos is a valiant and powerful fighter, but she is also our ally, and so should be treated with full respect and recognition for her actions as our ally. Yes." Luke nodded, as if confirming to himself as well as Jaune.

"Ah, y-yes." Jaune nodded back.

Luke gave a smile Jaune could just _feel _was present, "But we are not Pyrrha Nikos, she is an acrobatic and a spartan, we are knights, the difference is like that between a pistol and an SMG, the latter is freer and looser, the former is more controlled and strict. Now then, let's stop going over things we already know and get to our little duel, shall we?" he spread his arms, his sword and shield held loosely in his hands.

Jaune nodded and got into a defensive stance.

A holographic **3 **appeared above them.

"**3... 2... 1... GO!**" went the electronic announcer's voice.

Luke quickly stomped forward, raising his sword firmly in his hand.

*CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* went seven rapid sword strikes, each from the same direction and hammering into Jaune's defense.

'Jeez, he hits almost as hard with a sword as Yang does with her fist!' Jaune's mind analyzed as he blocked a surprise eighth strike from the other side.

"Excellent shieldwork and excellent shield, my good man! Nary a scratch!" Luke praised as his own shield bashed into Jaune's hard enough to nearly send the white knight tumbling back.

Nearly... but not quite enough. Two days ago and Jaune might have been knocked over, but then again the Jaune of right now was vastly different than the Jaune of two days ago.

Namely in the fact that he now had experienced a great deal of more things.

Such as using his shield's mechashift capabilities as weapons.

An axe suddenly met his opponent's shield, only to be blown back by a backlash of electricity from electric dust that numbed his arm and made his hand go limp, the axe transforming back into a shield as his aura stopped flowing through it.

Okay, Jaune still had many things to experience, such as remembering to recall what he had been told about his current opponent's weapons.

Backpedaling almost instantly, Jaune switched his approach back to defense. If he had as much aura as was apparent, then he could win in a battle of attrition if it came to it. He flipped the axe around as it transformed into the vaguely rifle-like shape as before and he fired at Luke.

The effect was odd. The black knight paused, before collapsing to one knee, his shield shocking him with its own electricity as he was effectively tased inside his own armor.

His thick, heavy, full-body, conductive metal armor.

Jaune watched as Luke's aura dropped to about 40% by the time the electricity lost power, leaving the man smoldering and smoking as he stood up.

"Well... it seems we all learn something new every day... I'll have to add some anti self-harm measures to this thing. Good job, Jaune, you're a smart fighter."

'Best to look like a genius with a closed mouth than like a fool with an open one.' Jaune recited in his mind, "Well, I try." he said humbly, borrowing Pyrrha's words.

"And that's all you can do." Luke recited in a low, serious tone, "Now then." his sword went swinging in a wide arc towards his opponent.

The blonde was surprised by the immense strength of the attack, it nearly knocked him off his feet! Performing a tactical dive to get a little more distance and buy some time, another surprise rang out.

*BANG* a sharp, heavy, burning pain erupted from Jaune's shoulder, he turned his eyes towards the source to see a pistol in Luke's hand.

'Right, THAT THING!' the blue-eyed youth immediately closed the distance again, swinging his sword hard in a pommel-strike to Luke's chest, feeling satisfied at hearing the small grunt it elicited.

*CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* Jaune imitated Luke's previous assault, but with far more effective results.

That was, of course, until Luke picked him up and slammed him into the ground with his immense strength. Putting away his shield and pistol, the massive man picked Jaune up by his collar, dusted him off, and socked him right in the face.

Flying back, Jaune couldn't help but be reminded of Yang's blindingly furious punch that had put him out for several hours. Comparing this punch to THAT punch was like comparing a thrown rock to a cannonball.

"HA! You hit even worse than a girl!" Jaune taunted as he got to his feet, the pain already ebbing away.

"If you're speaking of Miss Xiao Long." Luke whipped his pistol out and fired two shots that Jaune danced past, "I know." he fired again, this time hitting the white knight in the center of his chest.

Aura flaring to protect him, Jaune couldn't help but compare it to Ruby's shots, which were easily three times more powerful, "You know it's hard to get phased by some of your stuff, buddy!" his sword was in his hand and ready to swing.

"Oh? How about THIS!" midnight blue energy flowed through Luke's sword as it quickly quadrupled in size, stretching twelve feet and coming down on Jaune like a falling boulder.

Blocking just barely, Jaune gave some space for the blow to disperse a bit, then used his shield to bash it out of the way, disarming Luke of his unwieldy weapon.

Getting close enough to shield-bash his opponent, Jaune was surprised slightly when his shield was stopped by a much heavier and stronger punch, then ripped out of his hand like a child with a toy.

Swinging his sword rightwards horizontally, Jaune bashed Luke's shield out of his deteriorated grip. Luke grabbed Jaune's sword by the edge and kicked him in the stomach, disarming and winding him, then throwing the sword to the side.

The two met hand-to-hand, trying their hardest to press one another out.

Jaune was losing, obviously, since Luke was above even Yang's level while he was still far below it. That didn't stop him from holding out for as long as possible, nor did it prevent him from focusing his aura into his arms and back. He had learned that the key to overpowering your opponent was with with the arms AND the back.

Shifting his feet to widen his stance, Jaune found that with the assistance of his aura, he was getting pushed back a lot less quickly, but even at a snail's pace, he was still losing.

He pushed his will and everything he had into it, he would either win, or go down knowing that he could do no better than he did.

His aura pulsed, humming with a subtle black glow as suddenly both combatants felt the tables turn so far inverted it was even funny.

Luke felt like his armor weighed over ten times more than it actually did, and the force of the white knight's pushing seemed to enhance with it.

Jaune felt like his opponent had turned from a charging Unocerous into a bicycle. Pushing him back further, he mentally compared pressing out the black knight to crushing a soda can.

Luke was forced back, and Jaune took the opportunity, 'Always taking the opportunity! That's what Yang says, and she knows what she's doing!' he did a quick backpedal, then ran at Luke and dropkicked him in the chest.

Cracks spider-webbed out when Luke hit the ground, the motion could be compared to a fallen tree.

Jaune was panting as he stood atop his opponent's chest, but he kept the sense of mind to tap his foot on the metal surface, "Yield?"

"Yield."

"Good..." the blonde breathed a sigh as he got off of his opponent, then offered his hand, "All seriousness aside, that was intense! You're an awesome fighter, buddy."

"I train and I train and I train some more, practice makes perfect, after all." Luke said with a chuckle as he stood up with a tiny amount of Jaune's assistance, "And I agree! It was a jolly good time and a most invigorating match. I hope to have a repeat of it one day."

Jaune finished stretching out and popping his back into place again, then scratched the back of his head, "Uh... s-sure, dude."

"You seem unwell, is everything okay, friend?" Luke noticed the nervousness Jaune seemed to emanate.

"Just... don't feel much like sparring... but I don't want to _not_ spar, y'know? I know it's weird, but it's like-"

"Like you do not want to harm your fellow students, rather you wish to focus on slaying the forces of darkness and corruption." Luke recited his own oath.

"Yeah... actually that pretty much sums it up... how'd you know?"

"Fighting ourselves is just as destructive as the grimm fighting us. We must remain banded together and fight against the creatures of Grimm, cleansing the land and making everyone safe." Luke had his hand facing palm up and clenched into a determined fist.

Jaune continued to scratch the back of his head, but something clicked in his mind after a few seconds "Right... OH! Hey, uh, I'm heading into Vale later today with my fellow leader Ruby, I need to get ready."

"You wish to look well for this outing?" Luke cocked an eyebrow under his helmet.

"Yeah, I mean, Ruby is really cool and I don't want to hang out with her while looking... not cool."

"Well, friend, I and my brothers-in-arms can help you!" Luke gave Jaune a pat on the back that reminded him of getting shot by Ruby's rifle.

"You can?" Jaune was hopeful.

"It involves science, but I've learned to not question it and accept the successful results." was Luke's simple answer.

"Thanks man, I don't wanna make Ruby look bad or anything, when can I come by?" the blonde was elated, he had a chance to possibly get a new set of clothes to wear for his and Ruby's little... wow it REALLY sounded like a date... 'It's not a date, we're just friends, she's not even interested in me! She probably sees me as a goofy big brother or something!... oh god, or even worse... like a younger version of her dad!' Jaune had learned through Yang that he had similar looks to her father, namely the golden blonde hair and coolly colored eyes, though Taiyang's were lilac. Also, slightly funny, her dad was shorter than him, granted he was still six-foot-two-inches, and what he lacked in the vertical department, Taiyang Xiao Long made up for in the horizontal department with arms like anacondas.

"Right now, actually, come, come, we have much to do." the black knight gestured for Jaune to follow him.

* * *

Jaune was surprised the sight of the inside of the dorm room of Team FLRE.

Fenerion, their leader, was a fellow connoisseur of the hood, though he preferred what looked to be a gray hooded robe and identified himself as 'an assassin'. He had pale skin, piercing green eyes that seemed to glow oddly, and hair black as night. Luckily enough, he was also more fashionably inclined, given his fancy attire even in casual wear.

Luke sat heavily onto his bed, continuing his introductions.

Next came Raiden, the pale-skinned man Jaune had briefly met in the hallway. He was still wearing his suit, gloves, shades, and high heels, which Jaune still found odd, especially since they appeared to be made of some type of rubber. He had a few scientific devices that he was readying, the sword and gun-sheath he had previously clasped to his hip now laid on his bed.

Evan, the last member of the group, had messy brown hair, leather clothing somewhat similar to Yang, and a pair of strange SMGs on his sides, both having three barrels positioned vertically, he called them Ballistica, a simple name, but he didn't seem like a fancy guy to start with. He was there to be easily impressed and offer brofists.

This was surprisingly acceptable.

So, with Raiden using his techno-gadgets, and Fenerion designing simple, yet stylish clothes, they got Jaune's measurements and made custom clothes for him.

It was simple enough, but at the same time, "I like it, it's got some _flair_ to it." this earned a groan from Fenerion and a chuckle from Raiden.

"You're certainly one of Yang's friends, that's for sure." the pale swordsman said as he began using his '3D Universal Printer' to craft the clothes, smiling when it was done.

Jaune took a look at himself in the mirror. Fenerion had touched up and straightened his hair somewhat into a neater look and applied a slight bit of makeup (he had a disguise kit) that slightly tanned his skin and helped lighten the scar he had gotten from that shot from Gambol Shroud that had already healed and scarred over into an long almond shape running down in a line on the left side of his jaw.

The clothes were spectacular in Jaune's eyes. A white hoodie with an Ursa Major on the back, his symbol in orange on the shoulders and chest, and a gold-colored zipper. His jeans were navy blue and had two orange stripes running down the sides. His sneakers were black and orange, in some design Raiden offhandedly called 'Subtractas Superstar II'. The leather gloves were actually his own, but re-polished and treated to a slightly darker brown color. The final addition was a set of black leather armor, the pieces of which being shoulderpads, bracers, one black belt and one gray belt, and kneepads.

"Guys... this is freaking AWESOME!" Jaune looked at himself from every angle, and he had to admit, he looked really good.

"Yeah, now you should head out, tell us how it went when you get back, bro." Evan said with his ever-present grin.

"You guys are awesome, like... I hardly know you and you did all this for me, man... how can I ever repay you?"

"I don't want anything I can't get elsewhere easily, but if you insist, we'll talk about it, kay?" Raiden offered easily.

"I will send you an, uh, invoice detailing the costs involved in this, eh, process." the black-haired assassin said in his thick accent, which minorly inhibited his vocabulary.

"Whatever the costs, I'll pay them and some change if I can get more stuff like this!" Jaune was seriously excited, I mean, he felt cool and he looked cool, so that was like, SUPER cool!

"No problem, bro, we're all cool here, and always happy to help a fellow man in need." Evan patted Jaune on his leather-covered shoulder, "And consider the armor to be an early christmas present from those two." he gently pushed Jaune forward, "Now go on, get out there and be... awesome and stuff."

Jaune couldn't help but smile, "Alright, again, thanks you guys, I'm gonna go, see you later!" he waved goodbye as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Ruby looked at herself in the mirror, a smile on her face. Her current outfit consisted of a black buttoned cardigan that came down to her hips, the sleeves of which were rolled up to her elbows. Under it was a brick-red t-shirt with a large cookie printed on the chest, her midriff covered even more by her usual corset. A pair of black skinny jeans that fit her perfectly, hugging her legs and actually being the tiniest bit loose, getting extra support from a slanted silver belt. Red and black sneakers, some make called 'Subtractas Superstar II', but she didn't really care, because they looked cool. She had run a comb through her bedhead, tearing up as she pulled a couple of knots in her silky hair loose, and put on a little silver hair clip on her side-swept longer locks that seemed to just arrange themselves that way out of her short, wolfish bob of black and red hair. The final addition was her red watch, which was themed after Charmander from Pokemon.

Satisfied with her attire, she donned her trademark red cloak and turned to leave the dorm room.

"What is this new outfit for?" Weiss asked, standing near the door.

"WAH! Weiss, don't sneak up on me like that!" Ruby chastised with little heat.

"I just walked in and saw you dressing up like you were going to go somewhere, you dunce, now would you mind telling me WHERE exactly? I don't want your brute of a sister to start tearing the school down looking for you." Weiss' icy blue eyes shot Ruby with an icy-cold stare.

"I was just going into town, Weiss. I am the leader, I can come and go as I please." Ruby tried REALLY hard to be a good leader, and to act mature, but Weiss just sometimes pushed her buttons, even after mellowing out.

"Well we'd still all like to know where you run off to in your childish adventures."

"I am not a child!" Ruby was getting mad now, she didn't know when Jaune would get to the docks, but she felt really bad about the possibility of being late.

"You're fifteen, Ruby, you're definitely not an adult." Weiss was getting irritated now. Why was Ruby being so defensive about this?

"You're seventeen, you're not an adult either!" Ruby HATED it when others pointed out her age, which only made it all the more special that Jaune ignored that stuff.

Weiss paused, Ruby had a point there, technically none of them were adults yet, Ruby was just a little further off than most. Despite this truth, the white-haired heiress was curious as to why Ruby was acting more... volatile than usual, "Any reason you're getting so worked up over a trip into town?"

"Well I'm going with Jaune and you're making me late and I don't want to disappoint my best friend by being late because he was the one who suggested the trip and I agreed because I need to pick up supplies and stuffs and MOVE OUT OF THE WAY I'M GONNA BE LATE!" Ruby pushed past the fencer and sped down the hallway.

Nearly sprinting down the hall, the young scythe-wielder headed towards the Airship Docks.

'Great... right as my opinion of him spins on its head, Ruby goes and tries to snatch him up... I think... I'm not quite sure she thinks it's a date... I need to plan.' Weiss got out her charting and graphing materials and got to work figuring out how to best secure the scraggly blond knight for herself.

* * *

Jaune approached the Airship docks, a calmness in his mind. Even among the many students anxiously awaiting to go into the city, he could easily pick out the bright red cloak of his best friend. He approached her quickly, though his stride slowed as he took in her appearance.

Let it be known that despite one of the main pieces of her combat uniform being a skirt, Ruby was a tomboy, she likes weapons, mechanics, sports, and killing monsters (she liked fighting in general, but she preferred Grimm), and she despised girly things like dresses, high heels, going to dances, playing with dolls, makeup, styling one's hair (only in complex ways, though), and other stuff.

One thing was certain about her tomboyishness, she pulled off the look well. Jaune couldn't help but think that, with the exception of her cloak in place of his armor, her attire was like a somewhat feminine version of his normal combat outfit. She still wore her corset, which to him was a bit odd, but he didn't question it, he was wearing leather armor, after all.

"Hey Rubes, you look awesome." Jaune greeted the small scythe-wielder with his charming smile.

Ruby turned to face Jaune directly and was immediately captivated by his appearance. She barely held back a squee as she smiled and giggled girlishly, "H-hey Jaune, you look awesome too. The airship is gonna be here in a few minutes... where'd you get the new getup?" While not normally one to talk much about things that were not sweets, weapons, or her sister, Ruby found it easy to talk to Jaune. She liked him, he was kind and gentle, but also honest. Ruby and Yang functioned similarly, that is, demisexuality, so the fact that Jaune was a very good friend of hers made the silver-eyed girl unconsciously put him on the list of potential suitors. She compared him a storybook hero, brave and handsome and noble. The fact that he didn't treat her differently for being younger was just the icing on the proverbial cake.

"Oh, just some new friends I made recently, Team FLRE. I'd like to think I look kinda cool." Jaune felt his composure crack slightly at hearing Ruby's adorable giggling. He always found a girl's giggle to be an admirable sound, and while he hadn't heard all of his female friends' giggle sounds, he was sure they were all beautiful in their own right. Ruby was nice, chirpy, energetic, and friendly. Physically speaking, she was small, which made her a lot less intimidating to be with in Jaune's book. Even the biggest obstacle to being with her romantically, Yang, was also a good friend.

"Wow~! Well, you look AWESOME! It's like a cool palette swap, or an alternate loadout, or... something really cool like that!" Ruby gushed, "Like, I bet it feels really light and stu-WAH~!" she was suddenly captured, bound, and blinded.

Oh wait, it was just Jaune hugging her. Jaune couldn't resist how adorable Ruby was anymore and simply hugged her gently. Her body was warm, he vaguely recalled a couple of days ago that she did feel quite warm, and now he could confirm. After about ten seconds, they disconnected, and Jaune saw that Ruby's face was a bit pink, "Hey Rosie, are you okay? You look kinda... too warm."

Ruby blushed more at Jaune's concerned words, 'He's just so nice and helpful and caring and stuffs and I can't resist! I want him to like me, I want him to like-like me!', she cleared her throat, "Well uh... you're... kinda warm."

"Oh... uh... I've been working out a lot recently, and I'm wearing warm clothes... so yeah." Jaune mentally cursed himself for letting the awkward return, so he quickly glanced around, finding his salvation, right below him, "Hey! We got the same shoes!" he pointed to their nearly perfect matching sneakers

Ruby smiled, her blush fading as the distraction took hold. She saw that Jaune was correct, "Hey~!" she cheered, grinning widely.

They both lifted their right legs and clapped the sides of their shoes together. They then clasped their hands together, and with their feet still against one another, they hopped up and down, turning a tenth of a circle with each hop until they did a 180, laughing together all the while.

When they settled down, they continued laughing until the little silly feelings died down. Jaune smiled his charming smile, and Ruby returned the charming smile with a satisfied grin that looked incredibly good on her. They exchanged little comments on each other's outfits while waiting for the airship to arrive.

There was general commotion that meant their ride had arrived. With Ruby nearly dragging Jaune along, the two got into the airship before half the students realized they were there.

* * *

Settling down into their seats, the pair sighed, but suddenly Ruby turned to Jaune with a slight fear in her eyes.

Jaune glanced at his companion and concern took hold, "Ruby? Is there something wrong?" his royal blue eyes shone with care and worry.

The young reaper looked at him nervously, "Y-you're not gonna puke on my shoes again, are you?"

The blonde knight looked at her and tilted his head, "Why would I do that? And what do you mean agai-"

"Back when we were on the ship to Beacon, you threw up on the ship, trying to hold it in with a hand and failing, some of it leaked out and got on mine and Yang's boots." Ruby reminded, not forgetting that story.

"O-oh! Oh! Right! That!... I guess I should tell you the truth, since you know about the-" he stopped himself glancing around before leaning in really close and whispering in her ear, "-the transcripts." he leaned back up, but kept his voice low, "I said it was motion sickness because I had to cover for it... I was actually so incredibly nervous about getting to Beacon when I knew that I wasn't supposed to be there, and being among people who were visibly way better than me at combat and could tear me apart easier than a bull through paper, I got so nervous I jus-" once again he was cut off.

"I'm sorry, *snicker* did... did you just say, *snrrt* 'easier than a bull through paper' in a sentence?" Ruby giggled once more, unable to contain herself.

"Yeah? Why'sit so funny?" Jaune was confused, he was just using one of the many sayings he had heard back in his hometown.

"Oh, oh it's just, *giggle*, I didn't know that those jokes about people from the bottom 3 towns were true."

"What jokes?"

"That you make all these off-the-wall comparisons, it's... *teehee*, it's kinda cute." Ruby grinned toothily as she pinched Jaune's cheeks.

"Ow, hey~! Quit it." Jaune whined as he leaned away.

"Quit it or what?" Ruby giggled, highly amused by Jaune's reactions as she continued to lightly pinch his cheeks.

"Quit it or I'll pinch your ear." the blonde boy had a lot of experience dealing with little sisters, and Ruby acted a lot like Jasper.

Ruby defensively covered her ears, "Nuuuuu~! Don't do thyaaat~!" she pouted, look adorable and tragically sad, "I'm sowwy." the red-headed cutie hit her companion with the full force of her adorable assault.

Jaune was mostly unfazed until those last two words, after which he deeply considered hugging Ruby until she felt better.

No Yangs in sight, so he was clear. He grabbed ahold of his black-clad friend and hugged her, her face pressed gently into his chest as he protectively and comfortingly wrapped his arms around her.

Ruby blushed a faint pink, snuggling into Jaune's comfortable hug.

They stayed like this for a while, hugging each other and feeling warm and happy. Jaune felt like, since his endeavors with Weiss weren't going well, Ruby would be good.

Ruby would be fantastic, she already liked him, he just had to get her to 'like-like' him. Maybe bake her some cookies, or do something really nice, or maybe they're already on the road to getting a romantic relationship off the ground with how they've been interacting normally?

'But... is this even a date? I mean, I asked her if she wanted to go out, and she said yes... does SHE think it's a date? Dammit, I wish I had someone to ask about this!'

It would seem like Jaune's luck was turning sour, when in reality, it was just getting more ambiguous.

* * *

While the unaware duo of Blood Moon began their day out on the town, another duo, Radiant Flames, spoke in hushed tones at the breakfast table.

"Listen... I have to say, thank you for making Jaune stronger, it's had... alluring results." Pyrrha, the flames of the pair, said, feeling she owed the other girl at least a statement of gratitude.

"Yeah, I know, he's got big sexy muscles strapped around that heart of gold, I've seen them too, P-money." Yang said, "If you give me 500 lien I'll tell him you like him." she snickered as Pyrrha's cheeks nearly turned as red as her rich maroon hair.

"Yang! When I said I owe you, I meant I owe you metaphorically, it's a metaphor, aren't those common?" the spartan was many things, somewhat socially inept and awkward was one of them.

"Look... I'll be honest with you, I like him too." Yang admitted, "You know he has a journal, right? I read some of it."

"Yang Xiao Long, I would expect you of all people to understand the privacy of one's journa-"

"Ruby has a journal that she draws weapons in, but Jaune's journal? Frickin' _poems_ and _highly detailed artwork of all of us _in there."

Pyrrha blushed even harder, artwork? "What kind of artwork?"

"Nothing inappropriate, which was a little disappointing, but really nice, in a way. He drew all of us girls, individually, in groups, in scenes both real and imaginary, and I have to say... it was really nice."

"Are you two talking about that dunce knight's artwork?" Weiss interrupted the two as she claimed her spot at the table, her breakfast being an apple and a slice of toast.

"He's not a dunce, he's just a little clumsy when it comes to... not doing something..." Yang faltered when, for the first time, she focused on what Weiss had on her place, "Is that ALL you're eating?"

"Yes~... why? It's breakfast, I get most of my daily calories at lunch." Weiss countered.

"It's just... being around Jaune has started to rub off on me, I guess, I was kinda concerned about, like, you not eating enough." the blonde brawler was at a loss at the moment.

The emerald eyes of Pyrrha widened slightly, then narrowed slightly more. One thing she knew was that her leader, whether he knew it in that big blond head of his or not, had a LOT of charisma, and managed to endear himself to many of the people he met.

* * *

Jaune smiled a warm, friendly smile as he and Ruby walked down the streets of Vale City. He hadn't been out into the city a whole lot, so it was still a bit of a new experience.

Regardless, he was already having fun. Ruby was talking about all kinds of fun things they could do, "Ooh! And we can visit this one Dust store, trust me, you'll like it, I know the owner very well." she winked one silver eye at Jaune, who only stared back confused.

'O-kaaaaay... I wonder what she's talking about...' his thoughts wandered as Ruby took them in a direction, smiling as they walked down the busy roads.

"...-a car... that might get us there faster." Ruby pondered, the first part of her sentence lost to Jaune's ears.

"Huh? A car?" the knight asked, absently brushing off the front of his hoodie.

"Jaune~! Pay attention to me~!" the reaper whined, "I said that maybe if one of us had a driver's license and if we had a car, we could get there faster."

"Oh... wait a second." Jaune pulled out his wallet, flipping it open to show his driver's license, "I have a license... why did you think I didn't?"

"I looked up Coldwater on the internet... it doesn't have a DMV..." Ruby was confused now, "Was the site outdated?"

"No, I just went to Teloux for my testing, silly. I passed the second time... er, because the first time, the person testing me didn't think I was paying attention, even though I drove completely safely and followed all the rules and directions." Jaune was very good at paying attention sometimes, when he focuses, he focuses HARD.

"Oh... well that makes sense. Official peoples are big sticklers-in-the-mud." the shorter of the pair stuck her tongue out in disgust.

"Never change, Ruby, never." the taller of the pair chuckled softly, smiling a warm, full smile, "You're funny and adorable and smart and you know what's what." he chuckled more, it was a deep, friendly sound.

Ruby blushed as red as her namesake, "Hehehe~... th-th-thank you..." she rubbed her elbow idly, 'Stupid brain, Jaune is just being nice, stop making images of tha-AH! NUUU! FOR GOD'S SAKE NOT WITH YANG! GAH!' she gagged slightly and silently.

"Hm? Ruby, you alright?" in the blonde's eyes, she looked a little sick.

"I'm fine, just... bad thought."

"Oh... need a hug? Maybe that'll make it go away?"

Without another word, Ruby hugged Jaune from the side, feeling her mind calm itself with the affectionate contact.

* * *

"HQ... this is Agent 3, over." the black armored figure said blankly into his radio.

_"Agent 3, this is HQ, what is the reason for this call, over?"_

"I found him... the problem is... he's with a Rose."

_"..." _it seemed at first that the line went dead, _"Does he have the sword and the shield? Over."_

Agent 3 looked through his binoculars, seeing no signs of the white knight being armed, "No, sir, over."

_"GRAAAAAAGH! GODDAMMIT! It's not worth it then, the sword and the shield are fifty percent of our goals... goddammit, GODDAMMIT!"_

"Sir, if he doesn't have the sword and shield, then should I not engage him in his time of vulnerability?" 3 was confused.

_"You idiot! I just said that the sword and the shield are an entire half of what we want! Soon... soon we'll get him, and the power I rightfully deserve shall be in my hands, as it should!"_

"Copy that sir, should I call it a day?" the figure asked anxiously.

"_Yes, you did well, 3, soon, we'll have him right where we want him, and he'll know my wrath."_

"Is he not already familiar with it?"

_"He doesn't know the extent of it... only the intent... to claim power and resources. He is worth both."_

"Right, sir, I'm heading off, over and out." the figure said, getting to his feet and stretching his massive frame, he removed his badge and looked at it.

Upon the badge was a pair of crimson crescents, one inside the other, and words around the outside, the top line reading _Field Combat Specialist,_ the bottom line reading _High Agent #3_

Stowing it away inside his pocket, he bent down as he walked back into the building, his six-foot-eight height making it necessary.

* * *

*sip* "Blegh." Ruby stuck her tongue out as she practically spit her coffee back into her cup. She quickly flagged down a waitress, "Hey, yeah, can I get, like, five sugars and some cream in this?" the waitress went wide-eyed, as did Jaune, but the former nodded and took the coffee off to fix it while the latter just looked at Ruby.

"And you don't have cavities or diabetes _hooow~_?" he stressed the last word, more than a little bit confused.

"I burn off most of the sugar I eat before it's fully processed or absorbed, plus my semblance also makes my metabolism kinda faster too." Ruby giggled a little at Jaune's thinking expression.

"Does it make you read faster?" that was the first useful thing the knight could think of.

"Haven't quite figured that one out, yet, but I've been working on it." Ruby knew how valuable such a skill would be, she could even become as smart as Blake!

"Does it make you, like, digest things faster?"

"I don't know." Ruby giggled more, Jaune was as curious as a kitten and it was cute to her.

"Does it make you age faster?"

"Heh, I almost wish..." Ruby looked down at the table, where a large plate of cookies was placed between the two of them. She nibbled on one with a longing expression on her face.

Jaune frowned, "Hey now... it's not that big of a deal, Rosie."

"Everyone else seems to think it is... Weiss got onto me earlier for not telling the others, even though that I can come and go as I please since I'm the leader... and a lot of people are always quick to say that I'm just a kid when _it's only two frickin' years!_ I mean, none of THEM are adults, either!" it was clear by her long-suffering tone that this problem had been present for quite some time for Ruby, perhaps even from day one.

"Hey now, Rosie, don't be mad, and please don't be sad, you deserve to smile." Jaune gently lifted Ruby's chin and smiled his charming smile at her, knowing that it always made Yang smile, and it had worked thus far on Ruby.

It seemed that for charming the sisters, Jaune was two for two, "D'ooohhhhh, that's why you're my bestie."

"Yeah... hey, listen, those people, they don't know what you're talking about! I mean, the way I see it, you did more in only fifteen years than what most of them took seventeen or eighteen years to do, that's what makes you special, Rosie." he gently took her hand in his own, "Of all the things the great Ruby Rose wishes to be done, being slow is most definitely not one." the blue-eyed youth recited a line from one of his poems.

It did the trick, and Ruby smiled an amazing, bright, warm, and proud smile, "Well~... when you put it like that, I sound AWESOME!"

"That's because you are, ya sugar drinker." Jaune noted that Ruby's coffee had returned and was several shades lighter brown than before. He turned to thank the waitress, but the young woman had swiftly walked away, "So... is there anything you like even more than chocolate chip cookies?"

Ruby's eyes practically sparkled, "Strawberries~." she let out a squee, "They're the best food EVER!" a smile spread across her face, amplifying her adorableness

Jaune could imagine, at this moment, his blue aura preventing a cuteness-induced heart attack, he briefly wondered if there was a way to assist his aura in healing him more easily.

*boop* "Jaune~! Pay attention to me~!" Ruby whined, "You keep zoning out, are you sick or something?"

The knight shook his head clear, "Huh? S-sorry, Ruby... it's just... you're so cute that it's distracting me..." he immediately mentally slapped himself.

The reaper, for her part, just blushed, giggling a little bit awkwardly and having no idea what to say.

The silence was deafening, and finally, Jaune spoke up, "H-hey, can we please just pretend that I didn't zone out or say that thing I said?"

Ruby nodded, "S-sure, uh... say what?" she smirked jokingly.

"Huh?... OH! Hehehe, I have no idea." Jaune caught on easily, and chuckled while shrugging.

The pair laughed for a little bit as they finished their cookies and coffee, set down some money to pay for their stuff, and left.

Walking down the street for a few minutes in comfortable silence, the taller of the two spoke up, "Well, that place's coffee was pretty good, nothing compared to my mom's coffee though." he chuckled a bit, smiling at the memories of his mother.

"You're kinda REALLY hung up on your mom, huh?" Ruby giggled a bit, then deflated, "That must be nice..."

The blue-eyed boy frowned, immediately hugging his silver-eyed friend close, "Is it a sore subject?"

Ruby sadly nodded, "Yes..."

Now, in the kingdom of Vale, the phrase 'sore subject' is a common term used to tell a person something along the lines of 'I am not comfortable talking about this particular thing because in my case, it involves someone I knew that is now dead.' It was common courtesy to not push the subject any further after that statement was spoken.

Jaune kept his arm around his friend, sighing softly, "S-sorry...I-"

"It's okay, you didn't know, and I've been over it for a while, it doesn't hurt nearly as bad as it used to..." her tone dropped in volume, barely audible even to her own ears as she spoke four final words, "I still miss her..."

They turned into one of Vale's park areas, Golden

Jaune gave Ruby a small kiss on the top of her head, rubbing her shoulder a little and hugging her closely, "It's okay, Ruby, you still have friends and family who love you and a bright future ahead of you."

At his words, the young girl looked up at him, smiling a warm, pleasant, gentle, and beautiful smile, which gave her a more mature look.

The knight felt like all the air within a mile's radius suddenly disappeared. He could have sworn that Ruby had just been replaced by a goddess in those few moments before her smile fell and she looked concerned, "Uh... Jaune, are you alright? Your nose is bleeding."

Jaune moved his hand up to his face and pulled back with a red liquid staining his fingers, "Ah peanuts!" he immediately pulled out a napkin he had pocketed from the cafe and started pushing his blue aura to his nose to stop the bleeding, "Uh... d-don't worry, it's just kinda dry out here..."

Ruby nodded, "Oh, right, weird... I thought guys took the moisture out of the air..." she hummed with thought.

"What?" once again, the knight thought Yang had put some misguided conception into Ruby's head in an effort to protect her.

"Oh, Yang sometimes gets nosebleeds too, mostly when she's around guys who look like bodybuilders. She told me that guys absorb the moisture out of the air, and sometimes the heat too, and that makes her nose bleed." Ruby smiled innocently up at him, "And the more handsome a guy is, the drier the air becomes." her expression fell a little, then she let out a small cough, "I think our fwiendship is affecting your humidity absorption though..."

As Jaune stopped his nosebleed, he couldn't help but chuckle and smile once more at how adorable Ruby was, "Yeah... I think it might, I may have to actually drink some water at this rate." he laughed a little louder.

Ruby snickered into her hand as they continued their aimless trek, hoping something nearby would catch her eye.

That's when she saw it in the far distance.

Sniper eyes focused on their target, "Hey Jaune, I'll catch back up with you in a bit, okay?" and with that, she sped off.

Jaune blinked and found himself standing alone, "Ah crap." he followed the trail of red rose petals as they marked a line to a shop very far from his current position.

Taking a glance around, he decided to start walking there.

* * *

Peeking around the corner, the small woman grinned as she saw the handsome blonde man now standing alone.

Her aura flowing a scant micrometer under her skin, she walked into the alleyway next to the cafe and, under the illusory essence of the shadows, reappeared out of an alleyway across the street from where he stood.

Straightening her jacket, her curious mismatched eyes examined him and a smile graced her lips.

The boy was cute in a way, and handsome in another way, and she knew she had to talk to him. Clearing her throat, she ducked back into the alleyway and reappeared on his side of the street, mentally thanking the boy's oddly colored little sister for leaving him alone.

One thing she could tell from this angle, he was tall, _really _tall, about two feet taller than her if she removed her heeled boots.

Golden blonde hair and kind, charming blue eyes, she found herself drooling almost as much as she usually did when presented with her favorite frozen treats.

Oh crap! He was walking this way! Calming herself with techniques mastered over many years of training, she approached him.

Thankfully, he stopped before he bumped into her.

Jaune looked down at the strange woman who stood in front of him. She was pretty, with multicolored hair and mismatched eyes, a trait he found to be odd, but strangely good looking. Remembering his manners, he spoke a polite, calm greeting, "Uh, *ahem* hello, miss." calm maybe, smooth most definitely not.

Lowering her parasol, Neo took in a breath, then let her soft, smooth, syrupy voice flow forward, "Hello~."

* * *

**PLOT ARC!  
**

**CLIFFHANGER!**

**WORDS!**

**Once again, my chapters don't wanna end.**

**Oh my, it seems our unwary knight has unintentionally caught the eye of yet another female, and this one is mysterious!**

**If canon debunks my headcanon for Neo, I will claim AU, as I have already.**

**Before you say something like "NEO IS SUPPOSED TO BE MUTE!", well my reasoning is that she just doesn't talk during battle. In normal situations, it's okay.**

**Anyways, stay tuned for the next chapter, Vanilla Stars night out on the town.**

**See ya later~!**


	6. Vanilla Stars Night out on the Town

**Here again, with more wacky adventures.**

**First the short girl with interesting eyes, Ruby, and now the even shorter girl with even more interesting eyes.**

**And a few other things happen too.**

**Jaune lives his life being dragged by a string.**

**Let's get on with the story**

**RWBY belongs to RoosterTeeth**

**Chapter 6: Vanilla Stars Night Out on the Town.**

* * *

"Uh... hello, I'm Jaune, and you are?"

Giggling like a pouring a layer of salt over a snowy road, Neo gained her traction, "I have several names~, Jaune~, you can call me Neo~." her sweet, syrupy voice was alluring beyond any doubt, and Jaune gulped while sweating a little bit.

"*ahem* R-right, well, h-hello, Neo, c-can I h-help you with s-something?" he stammered out, a bit nervous. He was no stranger to exposed cleavage, but this girl was a stranger, and she looked so young!

"I was about to ask you~ the same thing~." Neo giggled once more, though this time it was sweeter.

"Uh... do I really look that lost?" the knight felt a little more self-conscious now.

"If you're lost~, I can escort you somewhere~." it was one of her few 'services' she indulged in. She had to pay the bills somehow, might as well do it charging for things people need.

Jaune coughed into his hand and summoned up his courage, "Is that so?" he forced his voice to be smoother and more attractive, "Well I haven't been out to the big city a whole lot, care to guide me someplace interesting? Maybe the movie theater?"

"Alright, would you like a simple transport, a full escort, or perhaps you're looking for an adventure~?" her mismatched eyes sparkled with mirth as she offered her third service. She had a lot of fun with that one.

Jaune thought about it, he was on a bit of a time limit, since he didn't know when Ruby would get back, "Uh, w-w-which one is quicker?"

"Transport~." her answer was simple and slightly chipper.

"A-alright, I'll take transport then."

"Excellent~, that will be one hundred lien." Neo held out one small, cashmere-covered hand.

To Neo's surprise, the blonde boy pulled out five twenty lien notes, "Alright, if it'll get me somewhere nice..." he handed her the money.

Chocolate and strawberry eyes blinked in surprise. In all of her years doing this, Jaune was the fastest person to pay so nonchalantly, despite her high prices.

Jaune was getting more and more interesting to her.

Lost in thought, Jaune ran through a mental list of places he would like to find. Suddenly, his train of thought came to a squealing, rolling stop as he was suddenly pulled into the alleyway.

One blink later and Jaune could have sworn something was off, the shadows here were different, the sounds were different, the SIGHTS were different.

As they walked out of the alleyway, Jaune was shocked to see the movie theater was right across the street! "Wow! Were we really that close?"

"Not really~, I simply transported us here~." came Neo's sweet, smooth reply.

Jaune was amazed, "Like... like fast travel or teleportation or something?" he kept his voice calm. Looking around, he was thankful nobody looked surprised. Then again, nobody else but him and Neo knew what they just did.

"Hm~, yes, actually~. You're lucky I happened to be nearby~, we're about~ twenty-three city blocks from where we were~, it may have taken you hours to get here~." Neo spun her parasol around her wrist as she looked up at Jaune, smiling a soft, warm smile, like hot fudge.

Pulling out his scroll, Jaune checked the time and found that the teleportation had been instant.

An instant, seamless transition across twenty-three city blocks through an alleyway.

Huh.

"Cool." he mused, looking down at Neo once more and taking a few moments to examine her.

Brown and pink parted in halves atop her head, a few streaks of white painted across the pink. Her eyes had changed color once more, brown for the right, pink for the left, like neopolitan ice cream... "Are you going to say something~ or stare at me all day~?" her statement flowed like chocolate syrup...

"Ice cream..." the blonde knight muttered.

"HUH? WHERE?!" immediately the short woman's demeanor changed entirely, she looked around with an excited expression.

Jaune laughed at her sudden switch to cuteness. He lifted a finger, "Riiiight-" he booped her nose, "-here." and his laughter continued, a teasing tone to it.

The elegant escorter blushed in embarrassment, "S-sorry~, I reeeaaaallly~ love~ ice cream~." even through her excitement, her voice remained smooth and soft.

"It's okay, I used to eat ice cream almost every night, since it would help me get over nightmares..." Jaune realized he probably just sounded pretty awkward, but he couldn't take the words back now.

Neo giggled, "You're a silly boy~, Jaune~, but at least you're cute~." she reached up and pat his shoulder.

Jaune blushed a bit, and in a Yang-guided decision, blurted out the first thing that came up, "W-well, you're a strange girl, Neo~, but at least you're pretty." he chuckled a bit, smiling awkwardly as he ruffled her hair a little.

Pale skin was quickly stained as red as strawberry syrup as the blonde's words made Neo nearly freeze up stiff like an ice cube, blushing like a maniac.

The blue-eyed youth smiled a bit more confidently, patting Neo on the head, "Well thank you, Neo, you've helped me a lot, I should probably go back to check on Rubes..."

"Er~, uh~, n-no~, no~, she looked like she was fine~, I saw you two at the cafe~, and then she left you alone~, clearly she wanted to be alone~." her smile was true, but her words were not. She just wanted to be with Jaune a bit longer, figure out his secrets, maybe convince him to buy her adventure.

Jaune thought back to Ruby's words. She had spoken in a rushed voice and sped off quite hastily. Maybe she had something important to go do? That seemed likely. She would be busy for a while, and probably wouldn't miss him.

"Alright, Neo, can you show me the arcade then?"

The small woman nodded, blinking as her eyes switched back to brown and pink. As she took Jaune back through the shadows, a smile spread across her face.

This would be fun.

* * *

Ruby grinned from ear to ear as she walked into the store that was labeled, by its orange-gold letters, _Black Ash Dustery and Weapons_

This was her favorite weapon store in Vale, if only besting _Bald Grimm Sword &amp; Gun_ by a ridiculously unfair advantage.

Why?

She leaned over the counter, watching the man wiping down the forge teeter back and forth slightly every few seconds. From this angle, she could see his dark gray slacks, black leather coat, the low ponytail he kept his dark hair in, and even his dark red and bright red ascot.

She rung the little bell on the counter once, smiling wider when the man responded, "Just a second, wipin' down the forge here." came his voice, gruff and filled with a scottish accent, which didn't fit his youthful features at all.

"Hope you saved some fire for me~." Ruby chimed cheerily.

Immediately, the man stood straight up and turned to the young reaper, his golden eyes shining mirthfully and his weathered, but still robustly youthful and handsome face pulled into a large, beaming smile. He brushed a few strands of his hair back, the light catching the red highlights randomly splotched throughout his black mop. From this angle, Ruby could see he was wearing his wine-red vest under his jacket.

"Right here, Rubes." he pointed to his heart with a smile.

The silver-eyed youth immediately hugged him, "Hey Uncle! Sorry I haven't stopped by recently, you know I was accepted to Beacon and all. Classes are killer."

"And so are you, lassie." Qrow said with a smile, hugging his niece affectionately. He let go and looked at her, "And dear lordy~! Lass, ye be growin' like a weed! Soon enough ye may be taller than even me!" the older reaper laughed as smoothly as he could manage as he hopped over the counter with a quick motion, standing in front of Ruby at five-foot-eight.

"Oh~, it's nothing much. I just drink my milk and stuffs." Ruby waved off her uncle's comments, "Anyways, I'm with a friend and he's waiting so I need to make this quick! Do you have any white alloy?" she looked at her uncle hopefully.

Qrow frowned slightly, "Back up a bit, lass... a friend? Who is a boy? Did you meet him at Beacon?"

"Oh, uh, his name is Jaune, Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, la-" Ruby stopped herself when she realized she had nearly repeated FAR too much of Jaune's little introduction from their first meeting, "*Ahem* Yeah... Jaune." she grinned awkwardly, blushing nearly as red as her cloak.

Qrow chuckled, "Ah~, lass, I think the lad is fine, then. If he's anything like his father, he'll be a little like Yang." the golden-eyed man had met John Arc during his time in Beacon, being noticeably older than most due to failing the entrance exams nearly three times in a row.

The red-cloaked girl nodded, "Right... w-well... white alloy?" she had goals and those goals needed to be completed!

"Now Rubes, you KNOW that stuff is top-lien price, and for a good reason." Qrow recalled the reason. It was simple.

White alloy was indisputably the best alloy for combat purposes. It was unbelievably strong, durable, incredibly able to be forged, and at nine-tenths the weight of gray alloy (the cheapest, most expendable metal in forging, which replaced the ancient material known as steel a LONG time ago), it was almost a miracle metal.

The main issue was that it was extremely hard to make. However, her uncle had plenty of strings he could pull.

"It'll take yer last few months' worth'a allowances, but I can get you the materials... what do you need them for?"

"Well~, you see~..." Ruby began her lengthy, well thought-out line of thinking.

* * *

Neo smiled brightly as she led Jaune down the street, talking with the man was quite the experience.

"... and so then, she punched the bear so hard it impaled its friend when they collided!" the blonde knight was busy recounting a tale about Yang, though he had been careful to not use any names or describe her appearance, instead only saying, 'She's really pretty, like you.' which had pulled a blush as pink as double-strawberry ice cream from the miniscule woman's cheeks.

"She sounds very interesting~, so~, Jaune~, what do you do for a living~?"

"Oh, uh, I'm not working technically, I go to Beacon Academy, actually." he pat his chest, "These aren't my usual clothes."

"Oh~, an aspiring Hunter, eh~? I know how that feels." the parasol carrier replied with amusement, remembering those times.

"Wait, YOU were a Huntress-in-training? Are you still one? What school do you go to?"

"Well, I'm not a huntress-in-training anymore, you see~." she smirked where the tall boy could not see.

"What made you stop?" Jaune was VERY curious now. An aspiring huntress-in-training who stopped aspiring? It wasn't uncommon, but it was a case he'd like to hear, maybe reignite the spark in her passion.

The colorful woman smirked wider, "I graduated." she said simply with a tilt of her hips.

Royal blue eyes widened at the statement, "You... you graduated? I thought you were only fourteen! I was going to say that your power with you semblance was really awesome and you should definitely get back into the game, but... wow..."

"Just because I have a small stature does not mean I have a small age, Jaune, I'm twenty years old. I graduated with an accelerated curriculum plan as well, I received my license last year." she giggled a bit at the boy's flustered expression.

"I'm sorry, I uh... I..." he mentally screamed at himself, 'THINK JAUNE! THINK!' he figured something out, "I didn't mean to imply anything about you, you just didn't seem all too... acting like a Huntress. heh, it's my fault, I guess, for assuming all Hunters had, just, like, this sort of... air about them... and stuff..." and he was back to his self-depreciating ways in an instant.

Neo frowned, had she made a huge mistake in sounding so sarcastic that it had put the young man down so hard? Thinking back over her words, she didn't put any harshness into it, just a playful teasing tone. Maybe she had struck a nerve? "Don't be so down on yourself~, Jaune. A lot~ of people don't realize I'm an adult~ and that I'm a huntress~, it's a mistake anyone could make~." her smooth, warm, sweet voice did its magic and Jaune's sadness lessened a bit more with each word.

The ice cream girl felt herself melt at the sight of Jaune's renewed charming smile. Did he know he was doing it? Did he smile like this all the time? She felt her cheeks heat up.

"Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't be so down on myself... wow I do that a lot... but I've been trying to get better about it. H-hey, Neo, could you maybe show me a few professional tips and tricks, please? It could really help me out." Jaune was willing to get help nowadays, and in fact, he could use all the help he could get. A full Huntress helping him? One word: Jackpot.

"Sure~, now come on~, we can do lessons on Saturdays~, but for now~, it's starting to grow late~." she led Jaune into another alleyway.

There in the shadows, Jaune felt something different, not the usual sudden slight, but noticeable change in air temperature...

Something else... a small, soft, moist contact of something on his cheek... a kiss...

Neo just kissed him on the cheek...

Wow... it was small, but it felt incredible.

"Wow..." that was the only word the huntsman-in-training could manage.

"Yes~, and I can give you a lot more than that~, country boy~." the huntress put on a more honeyed, teasing tone.

A red blaze flared up on Jaune's cheeks, he turned away, "Er... right... s-so, Saturdays, right?" he stuttered out.

"Saturdays~. Now, Jaune, you should probably get back to Beacon before any curfews start up and you get into trouble~. Just come out of that end of the alleyway~, turn left~, and go straight~. The airship docks building is straight ahead from there~." a cashmere-covered hand pat his cheek lightly, "Can't miss it, country boy~." she took a step into the shadows, but before she could become fully cloaked, she felt something, wrong... her aura was low.

She clutched her stomach, causing Jaune to grow worried, "Neo? Are you alright?"

"Y-yes~, my aura is just low, it seems like I may have taken you around a bit too much..." she gave a light groan.

"S-s-s-sorry Neo! Here, I can restore your aura." Jaune focused on his blue aura and put a hand on the woman's shoulder. He felt like tiny spikes ran up his arm, a small sense of dread reared up briefly before passing, leaving behind a sense of clarity and energy. Jaune hummed.

Neo hummed, "Aaahhh~, thank you, Jaune~. It's not often I meet a healer~. I should go, though, your other companion may grow worried if you're gone for too long." she giggled and walked backwards, fully cloaking herself in the shadows.

A realization struck in the knight's mind, "W-wait! We didn't exchange contact info! How do I get ahold of y-" his hand swiped at the open air of the shadow of the building in front of him, "-ou... god dangit!" he walked out of the alleyway, turned left, and started walking with his head down, a frown on his face, and his hands jammed into his pockets.

Great, he met a girl who was pretty, nice, and easy to talk to, and he didn't know if he'd really see her again.

He had another realization, what better way to help improve his skills as a hunter-in-training that to get help from from a fully-trained and certified hunter?

And even better? He could go out into town on Saturdays regularly from now on too. It couldn't hurt.

* * *

Ruby smiled as she made her way towards the airship docks. She was humming a tune as she walked with a skip in her step, carrying a padded case at her side. Her uncle had agreed to give her the alloy on one condition: she kept her grades up until Christmas and helped Yang keep her grades up as well. He was cool like that.

Speaking of 'cool', the subject of her thoughts and the object of her desires was nowhere to be seen when she left her uncle's. It was concerning at first, but thinking logically about it, she could easily assume that the Arc heir had taken it upon himself to explore the city. He was a smart guy, and was probably reasonable enough to get directions back to the airship docks if he got lost.

With her worries over her fellow leader minimized, she returned to her goals at hand. She had the materials she needed, and the general idea of what she wanted to do, she could expand from there when she got back to Beacon.

One thing she still needed was Jaune's measurements. THAT would be tricky without tipping him off on anything, and it wasn't exactly something that could be done easily and discreetly at the same time, it was either one or the other.

She thought about any conversation she had had with Jaune where he told her any part of his measurements, any part at all. She knew enough about anatomy (and for what she didn't know, she could search for it on her scroll) to work back from whatever point he gave her.

Going over the most recent conversations, she remembered that if Team FLRE had designed clothes for him, then they _must_ have had his measurements.

Ruby smiled wickedly, she knew what had to be done.

Her plan was set!

* * *

Her plan was set!

Weiss smiled wickedly, she knew what had to be done.

The idea was simple. She would be in Jaune's vicinity, where undoubtedly he would attempt (yet again) to ask her out.

That would be the point at which the great Weiss Schnee would surprise the young Arc by accepting! Now, of course she would make a bit of a show by pretending like she was tired of him bugging her and would give him a shot and accept the date, just to get it over with.

Meanwhile, in reality, she was quite excited and curious to see how Jaune would handle a date with her.

Now she just had to find him.

Putting on her normal outfit and walking quickly through the halls, she knew where the knight might be at this time.

* * *

Blake sat in the library reading, though it was a book she had read countless times, and so she just thought about recent developments...

Jaune was a badass apparently, or at least he seemed like one... she had no idea how much of what he did was skill and how much was luck.

Her thoughts turned to other possibilities. Yang had staked no claims on her fellow blonde, so it was possible...

Pyrrha seemed to like Jaune, like him a LOT in fact, but she was hesitant to voice her emotions. It seemed she wanted Jaune to ask her.

So Pyrrha was waiting for Jaune to ask, and Jaune was too nervous to ever ask, so that bridge was burning brightly.

Ruby and Jaune were really good friends, and Ruby seemed like the type that would end up hooking up with a friend rather than searching for a spark within an unknown individual, trusting what she knew and hoping that their bonds would only become stronger.

Nora was... odd. She claimed to not be with Ren, but she also seemed avid on staying with him almost every waking moment, profusely insisting that they weren't 'together together' and other such nonsense. If Jaune's current streak of suddenly being quite attractive kept up, it could be possible that Nora would enter the race to woo and charm the young Arc and win his heart.

Blake thought that all that competition wouldn't help matters, there was only one Jaune and six girls here at Beacon who were closest to him.

Her cheeks reddened significantly when she suddenly began thinking about what it would be like if they were to _all_ attempt to be with him.

Then again, that was the kind of thing that only ever happened in books, mostly cheesy ones.

Who would even suggest that?

Her bow wiggled a tiny bit, she wondered what the knight thought of faunus?

She heard the small sound of footsteps approaching, turning her head, she saw that one faunus girl, what was her name? Velma? The one with the rabbit ears.

"H-h-hello... is this seat taken?" Velvet! That was her name, she seemed to be alone. She was carrying a small stack of books and notes under one arm. Her other arm was extended to point her hand at the chair to Blake's left.

The ninja shook her head, "No, go ahead, you can take it." she returned to her book the second her sentence was finished.

Velvet smiled softly and sat down, her rabbit ears flopping down a bit

A few minutes of silence passed, silence that Blake used to read, and Velvet used to study.

Suddenly, the rabbit faunus spoke up, "S-so~... you're friends with Jaune, right?"

Blake raised one fine eyebrow, "Yes~... why?" she asked calmly and coolly, curious where this was going.

"Can you tell him thank you for me?" Velvet nearly stammered out, "I-i-i-i'm too nervous to approach him myself..."

"Nervous? Around Jaune? You'd be surprised how kind he is, and I'm not much of a messenger."

"You're closer to him though... l-l-look c-can you please just tell him I said thank you?" Velvet was getting more nervous and fidgety by the second.

"Why?" Blake asked simply.

"I just said that I'm too nervous t-"

"No, I mean why are you thanking him?" Blake clarified quickly.

The brown-haired girl tensed a little, then began to give her story. She told Blake all about how yesterday, Cardin had come to her and apologized for all the bullying he did to her. When she asked why he has suddenly come apologize, he muttered something about, "You can thank a certain blonde jackass swordsman nerd." Velvet quoted Cardin word-for-word. From there, it wasn't hard to figure out who the mace wielder was referring to, and Velvet had felt that an actual thank-you was in order.

"Oh..." the ravenette was lost for words, "That's... wow..." she didn't know how far this went, but this was a sign that maybe... maybe he was a good choice... if he could get past... _them. _She glanced up at her bow for a split second.

Those, her cat ears, they were the biggest and most insurmountable obstacle between her and a peaceful life, because a vast majority of people would see them and think she was a wild beast.

"Yes. Anyways, the next time you see him, could you thank him for me?" with that, Velvet stood up and left the ninja alone.

Amber eyes blindly read the words on the page as Blake sat there, lost in her thoughts, a few of which pulled a crimson red blush into her cheeks.

* * *

Yang groaned, rubbing the back of her head. She had slipped in the shower and hit her head.

Why? Well... she was just enjoying some 'special Yang time' there among the hot water and cleansing soap suds, when suddenly she thought of Jaune.

He had come a long way from the dorky Vomit Boy she met on the first day under horrible circumstances, which happened to be the same circumstances that led to him earning the nickname Vomit Boy.

Nowadays, she could see the stuff Pyrrha had seen in Jaune. During their training sessions, he didn't whine or complain or ask her to let up. He kept going until Yang told him to stop. He improved greatly, picking things up very quick and putting them to good use. Hell, he had even cracked a pun!

_Jaune held back the brawler's barrage of punches while maneuvering his way over to their rest area. He had grabbed a water bottle from the chair and, with a swift and calculated motion, sprayed her with it while yelling, "HEY YANG! How about you 'chill out', huh?" while laughing heartily as she spluttered when the cold liquid splashed against her face, causing her to rapidly bat at the air like an cat would. She couldn't help but giggle at his pun, finding it to be pretty good, and that smile he pulled? That was a Grade A Ladykiller smile right there. She didn't even mind that he got her hair wet, I mean, it was all just good-natured fun, and it's not like water was going to hurt her hair. If it was, she would have never showered, EVER._

That memory led her 'special Yang time' thoughts to shift towards her fellow blonde, and that had...

Yeah, she slipped.

Thankfully, nothing was hurt except her pride, and even that hadn't taken too much of a blow.

The knight was caring and kind, and while his raging teenage boy hormones forbid him from never thinking of her 'like that', it was apparent that he made one hell of a respectable effort to avoid such thoughts, and at some points in their training, especially when she started 'strutting her stuff' a little with some more flashy moves, he even went so far as to physically stop looking at her (which always ended with him getting knocked onto his back). She giggled a bit, her slight soreness forgotten entirely as she resumed washing herself.

'Maybe I should get some sexy glasses and a nice cute outfit to wear, see how ladykiller reacts to _that, _hehe.' she laughed both internally and externally as she planned how to embarrass the Arc heir as much as possible.

What Yang was not aware of was her own blush building up on her face as her thinking spree went on longer and longer. She continued thinking about how she could best manipulate clothing to emphasize key points. Jaune had said in his journal and in a few not-so-quietly muttered words that he believed that every girl had the capacity to be cute.

After some time, Yang had a revelation, 'Wait... wait wait wait... hold on a second... am... dear god am I thinking of Jaune like... like _that?_ Oh god I am... I'm... surprisingly okay with this... he's a really good guy, and he's dedicated, I mean... I've kicked his ass dozens of times and he hasn't complained about it being too much for him to handle... and he's even managed to land a few hits on me... and... hehe... I wonder if he can bench one-sixty?'

It was a closely guarded secret of Yang's, that, despite their great size, her breasts seemed to be as light and soft as clouds. She never complained about it, as it meant they never hurt her back, or had major problems being contained, her bras didn't break, and a lot more clothing options were available to her.

'If I can get him... I think I'll be happy for life.' a smile crossed her lips as she settled back, sighing in happiness and continuing her shower.

* * *

Pyrrha fiddled with Milo as she stood on the rooftop, waiting for her leader to arrive.

'Where is he? He's usually a little bit late, but it's been nearly ten minutes now! Did he get caught up with someone? If so, who? And for what reason? Oh god... what if he's talking to a girl? Or what if he got into trouble? Or what if he's getting bullied by someone? He's stubborn enough to keep going no matter how hard they beat him up... d'oooohhhhh, even if it isn't that, I should still look for him.'

She used her scroll to message her fellow sword-wielder and headed off in a light jog.

* * *

Jaune's back met brick as he was thrown against the wall by an unexpected set of hands.

"WHOA!" he cried out in surprise, only to have his cry cut short by the sight that graced his eyes.

Four men, one with a pistol, one with a length of pipe, one with a machete, and one with a shovel, surrounded him.

The pistol wielder aimed at him and spoke first, "Give us your money or say goodbye to your liver!" a few snide remarks of agreement from his lackeys followed his threat.

The knight looked at all of them, then laughed, putting on a facade of bravado, even though internally he was freaking out, "Wow, y'all got together FOUR people to rob me? Just ME? Well don't I jus' feel all special." he let his drawl slip through a bit as he laughed at his muggers.

The four looked at each other, then the one with the shovel bashed Jaune over the head.

The world faded black for the teen, however on the outside, it merely looked like he closed his eyes.

* * *

"You MUST be more careful, Jaune, and you should have better reaction time than THAT!" Jacques scolded lightly as he strapped on his armor.

"Yeah, okay, I messed up at the most important part, I know, but I was freaking out on the inside!" Jaune protested as he looked around, "Wait... YOU'RE taking over?"

"Yes." was the only reply he got before the world rebuilt itself from the ground up.

* * *

Jacques opened his eyes and steadied himself, then slowly turned his head towards the shovel wielder.

A pair of wide blue eyes met calm, calculating, judgmental gold.

"You shouldn't have done that." the knight rebuked calmly, and the shovel snapped in half with a wisp of gold energy.

The man looked down at his shovel, then up at Jaune, only to get an aura-encased fist crashing into his face, sending him hurtling back several feet.

The pistol wielder attempted to fire, but a golden glow around his gun caused the pulling of the trigger to make the gun fall apart.

"That's not going to work, now is it?" Jacques said as he turned to them, allowing himself a slight smirk on Jaune's behalf.

The pipe and machete were forcefully ripped from their respective muggers' hands, and all four weapons floated in midair while the gold-eyed youth stood with his hands in his pockets.

"What the fuck?" the man who had carried the pistol said as he looked between the blonde and the floating weapons.

"Aura Constructs, you nincompoop, now then, goodnight." and with that, a quick series of ethereal strikes sent the three muggers straight to the ground, unconscious for a guaranteed four hours.

_'WHOA! You said Aura Constructs, but... that looked more like telekinesis to me!'_

'I simply used my constructs in a more streamlined and efficient way, but if I wanted to I could have formed a classic steel tube cannon and blown one of them down with a cannonball, however showing off is generally frowned upon by professionals.'

_'Oh, alright then... you're the great great grandfather war hero here, I'm just-'_

'Destined for greatness, Jaune, don't ever forget that. So you made a mistake and got knocked out? You're only a first-year! If you were a full Huntsman, that would be deplorable, but with your "official" level of experience, people could write this off as "you made a mistake, but it all worked out in the end". Now of course, if you didn't have us, those thugs would have robbed you, however they would have merely taken your money, maybe your scroll, and left. You would have been in no physical danger other than a bump on your head.'

Jaune felt a little better from the mental morale speech.

Meanwhile, Jacques had used that mental conversation time to call the police and get them to come collect these scumbags.

He looked over the floating foursome of mismatched weapons and smiled, 'You know, Ruby's earlier comment on an alternate loadout sounds like a nice idea.' he arranged the four weapons with the pipe and pistol on the back of the machete's blade, with the shovel being loudly and creakily folded over to provide additional structural integrity, 'Urban Warfare, that has a nice ring to it, though we should exchange this hoodie for a less easily messed up color.'

Jaune watched through his own eyes as the weapon took a very very crude shape, '_Wow... that's... that's something, so you're just-'_

'Using the constructs along the edges of the objects, yes.' the veteran looked over the crude weapon, 'Corsage would chop my goddamn head off if she saw this piss-poor excuse of a weapon... hehe, those were more exciting days~.'

_'Corsage?'_

'The girl in the statue of me, the one with the battleaxe, Corsage Rose.'

_'So she was Ruby's ancestor?'_

'Yes, the world DID exist before you were born, Jaune, other people have ancestors too. Back then, people didn't care who took what last name just so long as they lived long enough for it to matter, which is why the Rose lineage often overtakes their male mates in the name aspect, or at least attempts to.'

_'Wait... so you were friends with Corsage?'_

'I was the only one who recognized her skills as a fighter, even as a twenty year old fighting alongside people who were mostly in their thirties... she provided a special _energy_ to the war that helped me keep going... sadly she was already infatuated with another, so no, you and Ruby are not related.'

_'I... well it happened a long time ago, I'm not really for or against that prospect, though it WOULD help me figure out who I want to try to woo.'_

'With your charms and wiles, even the unconscious ones, winning one of their hearts will be as easy as breathing. Remember one thing, Jaune, if nothing else from me... don't let others break down your good morals. Instead, let them help build those morals up! You are strong of heart, valiant and courageous, you don't let ANYTHING change who you are, understand?'

_'I... I understand...'_

'Good... good man... you're going to go far, just like Jack said.' Jacques externally wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his hoodie.

_'Jacques... are you... crying?'_

'It's okay to cry when you feel great emotion about something, crying shows you care... and I was also saddened when my thoughts turned to Corsage's unfortunate early end... hehe... and now I remember hearing through my son's stories about his friend Copper Rose and how she lost a leg to her husband... that generation was FUBAR...'

_'FUBAR? What happened?'_

'Oh, it was funny... Copper met her husband Onyx on the battlefield.'

_'Oh, he was a medic?'_

'No, an enemy sniper.'

Jaune's internal image facepalmed, _'How did THAT work?'_

'Never accuse a Rose of being slow... Copper Rose got the lower half of her left leg blown off, she crawled to where enemy sniper Onyx Pinalli was, and began beating the shit out of them... halfway through their fistfight, they both stopped to breath and found they were both very, VERY attractive.'

_'Don't tell me...'_

'Oh no, they didn't run away from the battlefield and go live a happy life... they just fucked right then and there.'

Jaune's internal image gagged, '_WITH HER MISSING HALF A LEG?'_

'Never accuse a Rose of being ugly either, they all look young and they all look beautiful. She healed her leg with her aura first, enough to stop the bleeding that would have killed her in a couple of minutes... after their impromptu acts, THEN they ran away from the battlefield to live a happy life.'

_'From what Jack was saying... there weren't any wars between his time and Jebediah's time...'_

'No _official_ wars, Jaune, there were skirmishes and attacks, for sure, human nature is... unfortunately violent, though given our origins, we can hardly be blamed, as violence is the very thing that has allowed our species to survive in this world.'

At this time, Jacques used part of one of the thug's torn shirts to tie his crude weapon together, then watched out both ends of the alleyway for the police.

'Should we go? I gave them the exact address to go to, even listed the nearby buildings on both sides... if we stay, we may be taken in for questioning.'

_'CAN we just go? Is that allowed?'_

'Hunters can get away with almost anything, given their rank... physically, I could do it with ease.'

_'Huh... well I don't want to worry anyone back at Beacon, let's go then.'_

With that, Jacques charged a tiny amount of his aura through his legs and jumped up to the nearest rooftop, taking off with a combination of the lingering effects of Jack's limbering up and his own skills. Leaps and bounds were taken with the greatest of ease.

'Wanna see something REALLY cool, kiddo?'

_'You're not going to hurt me, are you?'_

'I have to USE this body, and so do YOU, if you get hurt, it's not my intention... come, it'll be fun.'

_'You know... no offense... but I expected you to be more of a hardass...'_

'Never accuse an Arc of being unreasonable, or of not having a sense of humor or fun... also, I just have a great amount of skill in keeping myself calm and composed.'

They reached the city's edge after a few minutes of running. Jacques took one last parkour leap and PUSHED. His feet met open air as his body hurtled through the air at a great speed. Suddenly, upon the knight's back sprouted a golden pair of ethereal angel wings. They flapped and caught air easily, sending his young body literally flying through the sky.

'This is invigorating, is it not?'

'_Holy shit man! This... just... wow! Wow wow wow! Ha ha!'_

'The sudden intense feeling of freedom tends to give people an adrenaline and ecstasy rush, just enjoy it.'

After that thought, Jacques and Jaune both laughed at the same time, the former giving the latter some sense of control, namely his sense of touch, and Jaune could feel the wind caressing his skin, flying over the lake was... amazing, Jacques swooped his body down low, keeping balance with a set of aura construct bracelets and anklets that he used to lift his arms and legs.

The air was crisp and cold, whipping against his fast-moving form, the water of the lake was whipped up into a nice wake as he zoomed over the surface, then pulled up into a triple loop-de-loop, followed by a dip under the surface of the lake, then rising up again about forty pounds heavier and now dripping with water.

_'Wow! Can I even begin to describe how amazing this is?'_

'It would take time and effort to describe it with words.'

_'You're damn right! I should start soon...'_

'I'm sorry, but you're going to have to start _later_ on that, it seems we have a bogey nearby.'

_'Huh? Wait... that's not a bogey, that's Pyrrha.'_

'I knew that, I was just making sure you were staying alert, I'm trying to help you.'

Doing an elegant flip in the air, Jacques landing with a loud *BOOM* as he pulses aura through his clothes and his body, the moonlight catching in thousands of tiny droplets of water than fell around him in a beautiful pseudo rain.

Pyrrha watched in awe as Jaune, the boy she'd been looking for all over campus for the past ten minutes, showed up by pulling off this graceful and amazing move with ease. He'd landed in a typical hero pose, one knee bent, the other on the ground, both hands on the ground. He stood up tall and proud, the almost ethereal angel wings on his back dispelling.

And by 'dispelling', I mean 'shattering into a million pieces of hazy, yellow-tinted glass.'

The maroon-haired amazon continued to stare at the knight in awe.

Jacques gave the spartan a confident, calm smile, "Hey, Pyr." he said with a relaxed tone, "Sorry I'm late, I was playing around with my aura and did THAT... how'd you like it?"

Emerald eyes shined as they filled with thoughts, "Jaune! You... you discovered your semblance?" she wasn't sure how to describe exactly what she saw.

"No, no THAT wasn't my semblance, I'm pretty sure, it was just... playing with my aura? Sort of... showing off?" he sounded hesitant, but sure of himself.

"If... you... say so..." Pyrrha frowned a little bit, "So this is where you were? 'Playing with your aura?'"

"Well... that IS what 'us kids are calling it nowadays', right?" he chuckled, feeling a little bit of satisfaction from Jaune's annoyed groan.

Pyrrha blushed as red as her hair, "I... J-j-jaune, while I want to know where you are, y-y-you don't have t-to... t-t-tell me about your 'Jaune time'..."

Jacques chuckled, "I'm just kidding you, Pyrrha, you're cute when you blush, you know that?" his words only made her cheeks redden further, "Hehe, adorable." he brushed a bit of her hair behind her ear, causing her to let out a tiny gasp, "Sorry, just noticed that lying there. We all need to look our best, you know? Now... what are you doing all the way out here? Were the training rooms closed?"

"No, but actually, it DOES have to do with training, specifically YOUR training, Jaune." the spartan regained some of her composure, "While I would have liked to help improve your swordplay, seeing how far you've come with your aura manipulation was a wonderful treat."

"Thank you." Jacques flashed Pyrrha the charming smile, "But you should probably get out of this cold, or start wearing a sweater under your armor. I heard you complaining about the cold a few days ago, and it's only going to get worse, y'know." he gave her a quick hug, "I'll just go work out in the gym, okay? No need to worry, hehe, I don't think any machines are gonna beat me up."

The spartan could only nod dumbly, watching as Jaune walked away. She could only think of what could have happened in town that would make him so... smooth and confident. Was he riding a high of pride from coming so far with his aura control? She could only speculate.

Walking quickly towards the dorm building, she blushed incredibly as the events that transpired a minute ago replayed through her head over and over again.

* * *

'So... I can teach you a lot... first thing's first, however, you need to learn more about aura control, so pay attention, you need to know the basic three skills, healing, recovery, and shielding, before you can continue to the more powerful skills.'

_'More powerful skills? I thought all stuff above the basics was just semblances.'_

'Nnnnnnot~ exactly, after all, my semblance is the ability to create Aura Constructs more easily than most, now this includes quantity, size, shape, and strength, and with a sharp mind like mine, I can use them with motion to create kinetic force, which is how I made that mock-up machete-pistol weapon earlier, and how I psycho-punched those foolish men into unconsciousness. I was also able to use a pulse of aura like air to get the water off of us, as well as a simple barrier to keep it off of us... there were many, MANY things I did in the past twenty minutes that I could do again, and quite easily, and you know why?'

_'I... I don't...'_

'Because I trained my skills until they were easy enough to do without even blinking. You do these things, you train, train, and train some more, and you improve... and now? Now we have time to train what we know without anyone getting in the way.' Jacques externally smiled as he entered the gym, 'Now then... I think maybe five hundred reps would be a good start.' his smile turned wicked as he used his constructs to remove his shirt.

_'Can we even DO that?'_

'Yes, if my willpower will allow it, and my aura holds up as it should, five hundred reps we shall do!'

With that, Jacque loaded up a fifty pound barbell and set fifty five pounds of weights on his left and right on the floor, "Alright... let's begin." he focused on three things: counting his reps, circulating aura into his muscles, and displacing his senses so that Jaune could feel what he was doing. He began by using four sets of aura constructs to add the weights at every twenty-fifth rep. Only one hundred and twenty-five reps in and he was pushing everything he had allotted himself. Each rise and fall of the bar added another tiny burning needle to Jaune's ever-increasing feeling of pain.

'Feel the burn?'

_'Yes, it hurts like a bitch!'_

'Trust me, it's going to get a LOT worse, we're only half done.'

And it DID get a lot worse, by the time it was over, Jaune felt like Jacques had left his arms in an oven.

On broil.

For two hours.

Luckily, Jacques eased up at the end, decreasing the weight load by five pounds with every five reps and pushing out the last twenty of them with an empty bar. 'This is to reduce the recovery time, an excellent technique... now then.' he dropped the sense displacement power and tenderly rubbed his extremely sore arms, 'Don't freak out.'

_'Don't freak out at wha-WHAT IS THAT?'_

The golden-eyed veteran let his aura loose as it flared around him like a second skin. He began running to the door of the building, opening it with an aura hand and running towards the south end of Beacon. With every new meter of distance he traveled, the burning in his body faded away quickly.

'I'm using my aura to absorb oxygen from the air, thus restoring the depleted oxygen levels in my muscles and minimizing recovery time'

_'That... is AWESOME! So... can you give me lessons on aura usage?'_

'I can and I will, but it will be ten days before I can after tonight, and that Neo woman won't be regular enough for you to get proper teaching, so you should find a more accessible source of instruction in the meantime. I know how to do things in a way that gives me the most desirable results... now then.' he focused aura into his legs, 'Twenty five laps around Beacon Academy, then a hundred crunches, and we're done.'

The laps went by quickly without any conversation, and the crunches that followed received similar treatment, 'Burning muscles? Not on my watch.' with his aura at only a quarter full, Jacques used another five percent to absorb all of the oxygen he needed to recover as soon as possible.

_'Can you give me advice on girls?' _came Jaune's sudden question.

'Be yourself, you're more charismatic than you realize.' came Jacques equally sudden answer, as though he was entirely prepared for that question to arise, which he very well could have been.

_'That sounds like a pre-prepared answer.'_

'I know from where your doubt stems, your father treated you without love or respect. You grew up hearing of our tales, not knowing our origins of being the lesser type of men, who, with the willpower that can turn heroes away from the pearly gates in order to rejoin the battle, and a sense of duty that makes us fulfill even the most embarrassing or demeaning of promises, rose to the challenge life presented us, whether war, an escape from boredom, or... well... another war, I, Jack, and Jebediah all found our place in the history books, and your father shall find his place in the history books as well, and you shall as well, and your son, and his son, and his son after him. History shall always have a seat reserved for the heroes of the Arc Family. You are too kind to willingly let down anyone, are you not?'

'_I would NEVER let anyone down if I could help it.'_

'Which is why you have your doubts in the field of love... you know, deep down you KNOW, that all of the girls care for you, and want you to be happy, and you want all of them to be happy as well.'

_'That's sadly true, and... they won't be happy with me... or if they are, then... how will I ever know that the others will be happy?'_

'You don't, and so you've been thinking of playing matchmaker and finding them all partners of their own.'

_'That thought crossed my mind, definitely.'_

'You don't want to break any hearts, you want all of them to be happy.'

_'Yes, more than anything else! I want all of my friends to be happy!'_

'Hehehe... you should ask Jack more for advice, he's more experienced in the manners of romance than I.'

_'WOW! Next you'll suggest I ask my asshole uncle!'_

'No... I'm done with the laps, it is time for sleep.'

_'If you fall asleep, will I regain control?'_

'Yes... now then... my aura is in the black.'

_'IN THE WHAT?'_

'Calm down, it just means it is under one-tenth capacity... you should love more, and train more on your own, our aura pools are equal size to yours, so the more aura YOU have, the more aura WE will have.'

_'Jack mentioned that aura represented light and positivity in the soul.'_

'Which is why evil, depressed, manic, or otherwise negative people tend to have less.'

_'So my asshole uncle has less?'_

'Yes, but he is of Arc blood, so he will still have rather large reserves, and his training has no-doubt increased those reserves, possibly beyond your own... but you have an advantage of your Aura.'

_'Wha-'_

'You have five pools of Aura, so your aura will always be five times greater than your base reserves. We've repeatedly gone over this, Jaune.'

_'Right... right... five pools, but that's assuming I can ever beat you, or Jack, or Jebediah.'_

'We may be legendary, but we are still mortal and still prone to error, fallacy, and misjudgments. To defeat us, you must know us, you must know how we are strong, and you must know how we are weak.'

_'Well, that makes me feel better.'_

'Good, then I've done my job.'

The door to Team RWBY's dorm opened softly as the golden-eyed knight entered silently, a small glow of aura silencing his footsteps by covering his feet. He took only a few moments to gaze around the room, lifting himself up on a small pair of platforms, he examined Ruby and Yang quickly, then lowered back down to look over Weiss and Blake...

Golden irises met golden irises as the very much awake ravenette looked at him, "Jaune, what are you doing in here?" she whispered forcefully, a small frown upon her pale face.

"Just making sure my friends are safe and sound." he whispered back gently, causing Blake's gaze to soften immensely.

"Ruby was upset when she couldn't find you after she went to some store." the ninja summed up the cause of her red-clad leader's five minute explanation on why she had arrived in the dorm with a mopey expression in hardly five seconds.

"I met someone who offered to show me around for only a few lien, I had no idea what was in Vale City before and so I needed a tour. Ruby was busy with her purchase and I didn't want to bother her while she was shopping. I'm sorry I left her behind, I just needed some guidance."

"Your logical reasons aside, it's the principle of it, Jaune."

"Trust me, I know about principles, I promise I won't do it again, okay?"

Blake sighed, her teammates, namely her young leader, had been rubbing off on her a little, and one of those rubs had made a small amount of success in reigniting her belief in principles, "Okay."

"An Arc _never_ goes back on his promises, Blake." Jacques firmly answer, making sure to maintain his whispering volume.

The ravenette went wide-eyed at what she just heard. The conviction in his voice alone spoke volumes about his character, the strength and determination held firmly in the undertones spoke even more, and the general air of dependability and assurance he gave off was the icing on the proverbial cake.

"I want to talk to you before class tomorrow, you promise to listen to me?" she had to know, the charisma that radiated off the young man had drawn her in, she _needed_ to know if she could trust him.

"I promise, Blakey." he smiled charmingly at her, which made her cheeks turn a bit red. His charming smile turned into a pleased smirk and he walked out of the room, quietly closing the door behind himself.

Jacques entered Team JNPR's dorm, looking over all of Jaune's teammates with a careful eye, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. He peeled off his sweaty jeans and changed into a clean pair of black boxers, as well as a sleeveless orange shirt, and lay in the soft bed under his blanket, which quickly grew warm.

Time ticked by as consciousness slowly ebbed away in small chunks, and Jacques found a small sense of peace invade his vast mind.

'The first bed I've properly slept in... in over a hundred years...'

Jaune's internal image of himself blinked, his lips creasing as the implications of that statement sunk in.

_'I promise... I'll make all of you happy as well... because more than my forefathers... you're my friends...'_

Wise, age-old eyes fluttered closed, and the world was shut out from the senses attached to Jaune's sleeping body.

* * *

**I don't know why but for some reason my brain didn't want to work on this chapter!**

**Luckily I managed to get into a rhythm and write, like, a massive amount of this in just a couple of days.**

**So we've introduced Neo to the mix, and if you have the same line of thinking that I do, then you know who will be added to the list of potential harem members next!**

**Hint: she teaches the combat class**

**Anyways, I'll see you all for the next chapter.**

**Up next: Retaliations and Attractions.**


	7. Retaliations and Attractions

**Back again, sorry for all the delays with the last chapter, but highschool got in the way.**

**And sorry for the delays on THIS chapter, but now college is getting in the way.**

**Now then, let's get on with the story, shall we?**

**RWBY belongs to RoosterTeeth**

**Chapter 7: Retaliations and Attractions**

* * *

Jaune stretched languidly as he attempted to use his aura like Jacques had in order to absorb the water from his morning shower, which chose to annoyingly cling to all of the muscle-made ripples of his skin. He chuckled as he recalled Ruby's words the day before, about Yang telling her that 'Handsome guys absorb the humidity out of the air.'

'She's just so innocent, so kind, so friendly, so... well she can be awkward, but she's the best kind of friend, one who will protect her friends no matter what, who can move past ANYTHING, who is just... so... so _strong.'_ his internal monologue continued as he attempted to use his aura to absorb the water. It was a painfully slow process, but it left the blue-eyed youth completely dry. His shower routine had been completed in record time, giving him a moment's respite to stop, think, and practice.

'She's strong for someone so small and seemingly dark... I'll never understand why she looks like a goth and acts like a hyperactive cheerleader.' he snickered and blushed a bit at a mental image that came to mind, Ruby wearing a cheerleader outfit and waving a pair of pom-poms around.

Then the image shifted to Jaune wearing a grifball player uniform and Ruby standing up on her tippy-toes, kissing him on the cheek.

'I don't deserve someone like her... in only a few short days, I've been knocked out twice and taken over twice, and I've yet to learn being knocked out, as now I'm only curious to know what Jebediah acts like when he's not rushed by my recovering from the FIRST time I got knocked out like a bitch...'

Blue aura flashed over his body as he felt complete relief from the last of the dull aches and pains that had been plaguing his whole body after the ungodly workout Jacques had given it the night before.

The results had been satisfactory, Jaune felt noticeably lighter, and a lot stronger. Maybe it was just a metric ton of applied bullshit from his healing semblance, which he's found so much use for that he was surprised he had managed without it. Taking a few moments to observe himself in the mirror, he could see that he had a lightly defined six-pack. It was only one session and only one day, but great improvement was already starting to show. In all honesty, he would literally take _anything_ that would help him improve better or more efficiently.

_Anything._

However, that _anything_ could wait for now. It was Sunday, so that meant a few things for the Arc heir. He headed out the door.

First Objective: Getting dressed

* * *

'How could I forget today was Sunday? Classes aren't held on Sunday, Blake! Dammit, I still need to talk to Jaune, and now I have no idea where he might be!' Blake mentally scolded herself as she donned her usual outfit, though she replaced her normal sleeveless jacket with one that had sleeves reaching to halfway down her forearms, a trail of little purple bows running down the middle of the back.

She was, unsurprisingly, the second one awake, right behind Ruby, who had skipped out whilst wearing a black t-shirt, black baggy jeans, red slip-ons (think Vans) and a pair of black leather gloves. The younger of the two had claimed she had "Some friends to visit." in another dorm building.

Blake didn't protest, after all, Ruby was allowed to have friends outside of the team, so she didn't even think to ask a question about who these people were.

The door to the dorm was opened and the B of RWBY stepped out to begin her search, which logically started with the first place she could expect her target to be: in his team's own dorm room.

She firmly, yet gently knocked on the door three times. A couple of seconds later, a shock of blonde hair and a pair of blue eyes showed themselves behind the partially open door, "Ah, hello Blake." he greeted her with a warm and friendly tone.

"Jaune, may I come in?" from this angle, and with a calmer mind, Blake couldn't help but notice just how _tall _Jaune was, towering over her five-foot-eight frame by more than half a head.

"Uh... n-no, it's kinda... really dry in here, I woke up nearly coughing my lungs out 'cause I was thirsty, and I'm kinda-" his quite important next few words were killed on the trip from brain to mouth when Blake pushed at the door a little.

"Jaune I _need _to talk to you about something very important." Blake pushed at the door again, trying to get in.

"B-but Blake, I-" the blonde stood firm against the door.

"Jaune this isn't the time for childish games, let me in." her brow furrowed slightly, there were two things that _needed _to be said.

"Blake can you please let me ta-" blue eyes widened as a flash of light consumed the ninja in front of him... who then dissipated like a bubble being popped.

He'd seen Blake's semblance before, a blink-type teleport that left a short-lived clone of her behind.

If she teleported, then that meant.

"Oh... my... god..." yep, she was behind him.

While he was wearing nothing but his boxers.

He had planned to capitalize on his team members' sleepy Sunday morning schedules and get dressed without interruption, but interruption came anyway.

A tiny part of Blake, the part that was addicted to raunchy novels and triple-x fantasy stories, was thoroughly disappointed that the black boxers he wore revealed nothing to her.

A part that was larger than that, but still relatively small, couldn't help but drink in Jaune's figure, and she _liked _what she saw.

An even larger part was screaming at her to escape, either through another blink or by ninja-maneuvering her way out the window.

The main part of Blake's mind was trying to manage four things at once: preventing her nose from bleeding, remembering her plan to ask Jaune about if she should reveal her heritage to her team, telling him about Velvet's thanks, and formulating a plan of escape to get away from seeing Jaune's excellently toned, muscular form.

Wait, what was she supposed to prevent?

"Ah crap! Blake I _told_ you it was dry in here." Jaune, in the span of four seconds, had located and put on a white t-shirt, grabbed a handkerchief from the drawer in his nightstand, and gotten only a couple of steps away from Blake, holding the handkerchief gently against her nose, which had a small trickle of blood.

Blake just stood there, shocked still by the warmth that flowed through her, originating from Jaune's strong hand giving her nose a gentle touch, a handkerchief dutifully absorbing the signs of her nosebleed.

"... attractive or something..." Jaune said, having been talking before, but his words had fallen on both pairs of Blake's thought-deafened ears.

Pale cheeks turned red when she realized that Jaune must have been talking about her, muttering under his breath and not realizing her more sensitive cat ears were able to pick up his words, because he didn't even know she had cat ears to begin with!

"... you're already in here, so go ahead and tell me what you were going to say." he said reassuringly to her as he began cleaning the handkerchief of Blake's blood.

"Uh... what's your standpoint on... s-s-s-secrets?" golden eyes clamped shut as Blake internally facepalmed at her wording of the question.

"Secrets? Blake... what's wrong... are you hiding something from your teammates?" Jaune knew very well he was hiding something BIG from two of his own three teammates, but he knew that the time would come when they would accept it because it didn't matter.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret, would it?" her sarcastic remark held far more edge than she intended, and internally she winced when Jaune looked hurt.

The knight placed a hand over his heart, "Blake, I'm hurt... you can trust me, whatever it is." the immense sincerity and care in his words struck a cord in her heart, "You could reveal to me that you're actually a man and I wouldn't judge you for it... whatever it is that you're hiding, I'm sure you have good reasons for it, you're a smart girl... or possibly boy, Blake, you should know honesty when you hear it." the way he smiled at her made her heart flutter and soften.

Gulping audibly, "I think it would be easier if I just showed you..." she slowly reached up to her bow.

Blue eyes widened and suddenly her advancing hands her halted as the knight held her by the wrists.

"Jaune? W-w-what are you doing?" the ravenette asked hesitantly as he slowly lowered her unprotesting arms.

With careful motions, he secured the protective garment around her cat ears, his touch soft and gentle, it was... nice. After he finished with her bow, he straightened out her hair a little bit, and finally spoke, "Are you sure you want to reveal that to my teammates should they wake up during our conversation?

Blake shook her head, but then the implications behind the knight's statement hit her full force and her eyes nearly popped out of her head with how wide they shot open, "Y-y-y-y-you-"

"Know about the bow? Yes, in fact I knew not too long after we met." his royal blue eyes met her golden yellow ones with a soft, easygoing air about them.

"H-h-how? And why didn't you say anything?"

"I have an adopted sister who also happens to be like you, her name is Kira, she's like a mix between Nora's energy and Ruby's innocent enthusiasm. She hopes to one day be a superhero, hehe, gonna call herself 'Catwoman', and y'know, I tell her 'Now Kir-kir, you _know_ there's already a superheroine named Catwoman.' and... well... you know what she said in response?"

Blake shook her head, almost entirely lost from the story.

"She said 'Catwoman can be like Robin, but, y'knyow, a cyat.' and she got this really adorable little smile that she gets when she feels smart, and well... you've probably seen it with Ruby, it just looks so happy, proud, and innocent all at the same time that you can't bring yourself to correct her." Jaune sighed longingly, "She isn't really my sister, and shoot, she was never really even adopted, we just told her she was allowed to be my sister and she was happy with 'hyaving the byestest big bwother evew!' and getting to read out of my comic book collection." his gaze was turned towards the ceiling as he reminisced about his family life.

"That's... nyice..." Blake mentally cursed herself for letting out the verbal tic of her species, "But... how does this relate to-"

"She once had a bow put on her by my sister Juniper II, it covered her ears, and it looked JUST like that one, except it was brown on brown hair instead of black on black hair."

"Oh... w-well then..."

"It was pretty cute, though Kira just thought it was a joke... she's really open about her faunus heritage since she's been raised thinking it's completely alright with society... she has the ears, a tail, little claws, cherry-red eyes, slit pupils, she's really flexible, really sneaky, and despite being a few months past sixteen, she still acts like a little kitten, getting into the fish and the milk, playing with balls of yarn, and all sorts of cute stuff... I digress... uh... so I know about the bow, yeah... is this just about that?" he looked at her with friendly concern bright in his eyes.

Blake rubbed her elbow, looking at the floor, "Uh... V-v-velvet, you know, the rabbit faunus girl?... she wanted to thank you for stopping Cardin's bullying, but she didn't know how to approach you..."

"This would be, uh, a much more awkward situation if it was _her_ here." the blonde chuckled, causing Blake to lighten up slightly.

"So um... from Velvet, thank you." the faunus-in-disguise nodded as if to confirm these were true words, "I'll just be on my way, then... um... this one is from me; I want to thank you for being a friend."

"I'm more than happy to help, and I'm ecstatic to be your friend, all of you, my team and team RWBY, are just... amazing." there was a tone of honesty, joy, and gratitude in the boy's words that made Blake's heart soar. She was nearly taken aback by what she already knew from reading his journal (though she had, respectfully, only skimmed over the pages, picking up only what stood out)

Lacking proper words to convey her feelings without seeming smitten, she simply put up as warm a smile as she could manage, nodded, and gave an approving hum.

Their eyes met, gold and royal blue, and the owner of the golden eyes chose not to question why the other pair had changed color last night.

The ravenette turned away from the blonde and used her semblance to blink out of the room.

The blonde smiles, his thoughts running high 'I've helped people... I've done good... that's all I wanted. I also had a nice little conversation with Blake. She's usually so quiet, so mysterious and unreachable, and yet she came to me to tell me something important... she should be more proud of herself, I mean, she's beautiful, skilled, surprisingly kind, and I just know that her cat ears are gonna turn out to be adorable.' he pulled on a pair of medium-blue jeans, slipped on a pair of immaculately clean gray and white sneakers, and finally grabbed his scroll.

Next Stop: Team FLRE's room.

* * *

"So what you're saying is, this thingy took Jaune's measurements, and basically used special technology to implant material into the physical world like a... what did you call it?" Ruby asked curiously, looking at the massive contraption that occupied one corner.

"A 3D Printer, Ruby." Raiden answered with a soft smile and a calm, friendly voice that made the reaper feel relaxed, "It prints things... in 3D. I used one part of the machine to scan Jaune's body, another part ran a few hundred tests to see his ranges of motion, a third took the materials we fed it into a chamber that the fourth part used as fuel to make the clothes."

"That sounds... AWESOME!" Ruby cheered with her fists thrown into the air, "I mean, I dressed up expecting some nitty-gritty forging to go on, but if this thing can make Jauney some new armor? I wanna see it work!" silver eyes scanned over the entire machine, trying to find the entry port.

"Well~... there IS a, uh, problem with the mechanics of it and using... that kind of metal... it has something to do with the uh, how you say, Raiden, the atomic structure of the material?" Fenerion asked, unsure of the specifics of this high-end scientific stuff.

"Actually, Fen, I fixed that with the latest update to it, since it's pretty hard to repair Luke's armor or my 'stuff' if we have to manually forge it." the suited swordsman said, putting airquotes around 'stuff'

Ruby raised one eyebrow, "What do you mean... 'stuff'... are you doing illegal things?" she narrowed her silver eyes at the tall man.

Raiden's eyes reddened for a split second, and he muttered "Murder is illegal..." quietly to himself, then blinked a few times, which made his eyes turn back to a pale blue. He shook his head a little and looked down at Ruby, "Uh, no, it's just an awkward subject to talk about... but let's just say there's a reason I wear an outfit that covers my whole body." he gestured with his gloved hands to his simple two-piece business suit, "Anyways, our point of focus was making armor for our friend Jaune... so, Evan." the pale swordsman turned to his teammate.

Evan blinked, he had been in the middle of picking at his fingernails when he was addressed, "Uh... yeah, bro? Whaddya need?" he asked in a chilled-out tone.

"Make sure the material gets fed into the machine, okay?"

"Alright, bro, I gotcha." he gave his teammate a thumbs up and stood by the receiver.

Raiden cracked his knuckles, which Ruby could have sworn gave little mechanical whirring sounds, but brushed it off as part of this massive '3D Printer' device's technological cacophony it was quietly giving off. The swordsman and the cowboy worked together, the former punching in codes while the latter carefully placed materials into the opening labeled 'Insert Printing Materials'.

The young reaper watched with wide eyes as the machine almost seemed to paint the metal onto the physical world, watching the white alloy form into a pair of smoking hot shinguards, then taking the rest of the material and forming them upwards to be able to cover the knees. She reached into her small pack and took out the pauldrons and chestplate she had taken from her best friend's locker, "Hey, can you, like, make these cover more?"

Raiden smiled softly, "Of course we can, Ruby." he placed the armor pieces into the proper positions using a hologram the same size and shape of Jaune's body, fixing up and slightly expanding the covered areas, using the last of the material to make a bracer for the right arm, "Alright... and we're done."

A wide smile lit up the reaper's face when she got a proper look at the armor, it was PERFECT! With this, she could...

She could...

What was she doing?

'I... I want Jaune to like me, so I'm helping him out and making him a gift he'll use a whole bunch... but... why? I... I just thought it, I want him to like me... because why? I... I like him... as a friend, but also... as more...'

"You okay, Ro-*ahem*... Ruby?" innocent silver eyes didn't see the twinge of pain in the pale blues of the swordsman as they met.

"Uh, y-yeah... just... Raiden, can I ask you a... a serious question?" she nervously tapped the tips of her index fingers together.

'Oh boy, this ought to be good...' he sat on his bed, "Sure, what is it?" he fully removed his sunglasses and looked her in the eyes, his gaze warm and reassuring.

Ruby took a deep, calming breath, then said the first thing that came to mind, "W-w-what is love?"

"Baby don't hurt me." he replied instantly in a near monotone voice, "Which, in all seriousness, is a good way to start the explanation." he folded his glasses up, "You see, Ruby, in life, love is a special, wonderful thing. It's light and soft and sweet, but also heavy and hard and bitter. It has great ups and great downs, but beyond a shadow of a doubt, true love is worth all the hardships in the end. If you're wondering, then let me tell you that while I don't know a whole lot about him, I consider myself to be a good judge of character, I can tell that there is a lot of love, life, and light in Jaune's heart, and you'd be very lucky to have him." the look he got from Ruby was priceless, and he couldn't help but laugh a little, "Let me say that if it were any more obvious, Ruby, then it would blind me."

Pale cheeks flushed as red as the namesake of the girl to whom they were attached, "B-b-but, I... it's... I..." she opened and closed her mouth several times in a surprisingly good, though completely unintentional imitation of a goldfish.

"Try not to be so obvious when you actually talk to him, okay?" the nod he received was all he needed.

Ruby collected the armor from the suspension field and put them in her pack. She slung it over her shoulder and waved goodbye to the three huntsmen-in-training. Suddenly, a knock on the door cut through her slight stupor like one of her baby Crescent Rose's bullets through a tissue.

She opened the door, only to come face-to-chest with the boy she had been thinking of, "J-Jaune?"

"R-Ruby? What are you doing here?" Jaune was surprised to say the least, he had expected the quiet footsteps approaching the door to belong to Fenerion.

"I was just... asking a... t-technical question..."

"Oh, okay then." Jaune scratched his head in confusion.

"OkaythenbyenowIshouldgomakesureWeissdoesn'tburndowntheroom!" her words were spoken so quick that the knight was half-convinced she had used her semblance with her mouth. She quickly stepped past him and a trail of red rose petals formed behind her as she sped off, trying with all her might to hide the massive rose-red blush that had bloomed across her face.

Jaune watched as his best friend zoomed away, then he shook his head, 'It's probably just a girl thing.' he stepped into the room, "So~... what was Ruby's problem?" he pointed his thumb back into the hallway

Raiden smirked, "She doesn't want baby to hurt her anymore." he gave a few quiet chuckles.

The knight cracked his knuckles, "Who hurt her? I swear, lord give me the strength to knock that fool into next week." the look in his eyes showed fire and pain for whoever it was that hurt the young girl.

"I was just joking, Jaune, don't go bloodthirsty on me." though the casually-dressed blonde couldn't notice the suit-wearing blonde's tension, it was practically palpable and his teammates could sense it.

Jaune shook his head a little and rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly sheepish, "S-sorry, Rai, I just felt... well I felt like anyone who hurt my best friend ought to get smacked around some, y'know?" he chuckled sheepishly and looked at the floor. Raiden's tension faded for the most part, when the knight spoke once more, "Anyways, speaking of next Sunday, I came by because, well, since you did such a bang-up job with the last outfit, I was wondering if you could make me something more formal? I was thinking maybe a button-up shirt, some nice jeans, nice shoes, just... nice clothes, y'know?" he made a vague gesture with his hands, as if trying to imitate the word 'nice' in physical form.

Pale blue eyes narrowed slightly, "Mind telling me what exactly this is for?"

"My question is why are you coming to us again, eh, so _soon?_" Fenerion added from his little corner of the room.

Jaune shrugged, "That's easy, it's Sunday." he smiled.

"And?"

"And I'm going to church."

* * *

Yang sighed as she leaned back in her desk chair. The moment Ruby had gotten back from wherever she had gone earlier, she had immediately hounded Yang about her essay for Professor Oobleck. The boisterous blonde didn't even get a chance to tease her little sis by asking why she was blushing so much.

Now the chance was gone, as was Yang's mental energy after only one page.

Blowing air, the brawler looked around the room. Weiss was gone, Blake was gone, and Ruby was in her blanket fort doing... something.

Standing up as quietly as she could, Yang walked over to the fort and got level with it, then threw the walls apart, "What'cha doin' sis?!" she asked loudly.

Ruby jumped and nearly kneed Yang in the face by accident as she practically threw herself on top of the piece of paper she had been writing on, "Yaaaaang~! Dyon't do thyaaat~!" she whined adorably.

The older sister smiled, "You know I'm still gonna do it... so what'cha doin sis?"

Ruby blushed slightly, "Oh, uh, I'm just going over some notes I took in Professor Port's class." she looked at the paper, "Uh... yeah."

"Pfft, lame~." Yang rolled her eyes, drew the blanket curtains, and dropped back down to the floor. She had suspicions that Ruby was just covering for a more interesting possible idea, after all, there were a LOT of things you could write on paper, a LOT.

She made stepping sounds going away from the bunk bed, but in reality just stood there, waiting for Ruby to continue doing... whatever it was she was doing.

A few seconds later, she heard her little sister go "Phew~." and continue scratching down something on the paper.

The situation stayed like that for about fifteen seconds, then Yang quickly threw the curtains open, "I need those notes!" she quickly took the paper from Ruby and held it far out of the younger girl's reach.

"YANG THAT'S MINE GIVE IT BACK!" the silver-eyed youth cried out in protest, trying to get past Yang's hand placed firmly on her forehead.

Lilac eyes scanned the page and went wide.

_Plans to Win Jaune's Heart_

_Step 1: Find out what things guys like _(0~0)?

_Step 2: Use those things to secure deep-set feelings in Jaune's heart (must be careful to never betray his trust_)

_Step 3: Using that depth of feelings, get a date with Jaune (may have to ask him in case he doesn't pick up on my hints)_

_Step 4: Dates, dates, and more dates. Liberally apply affection and love and get hugs and cuddles and kisses _^3^

_Step 4: At this point I will have won his heart (and everything that comes with it)_

_Step 5: Continue and build life experience with him and do things together ranging from nice to awe-inspiring._

_Step 6: Get married one day and have kids and stuffs _(^w^) _(Yang should appreciate being an Aunt, I think)_

_Step 7: Live a long, happy, fulfilling life (killing every Grimm in the world optional) with my amazing husband and die peacefully in my sleep._

_Step 8: Get awesome tombstone, VIP access to heaven, and my spot in history_

Yang paled slightly. She could see that a lot of time and effort had gone into the list by the fine penmanship alone. There were bulleted lists of things she could use to appeal to Jaune's male mind and heart. There were possible venues for dates including plans in case future developments may get in the way, even going so far as to plan for if the place was burned down, shot up, or bombed by terrorists_._ There were a few cute little drawings of Ruby hugging, cuddling, and kissing Jaune, all of which struck at tiny chords inside Yang's mind. A few more small drawings of her and Jaune together, him presenting her with a love heart to represent her 'winning it', pictures of them having a picnic together, kissing under a sky filled with fireworks, and spending Christmas together (that one also featured Yang and their father Taiyang in the background), there was a drawing of Ruby and Jaune holding hands with tiny wedding rings on, Ruby was taller in the picture and Jaune looked much buffer, two small children stood to either of their sides, a young blonde boy to Ruby's left and a young black-haired girl to Jaune's right. The final picture was half-finished, it looked like the statue in front of Beacon, but with Jaune and Ruby in place of the ancient hero and heroine.

Ruby watched Yang carefully, on the verge of tears as her older sister's eyes took in everything she had been working on for the past half hour, "Yaaaaang~, give it baaack~." she whined in a tragically sad and adorable tone.

The blonde couldn't bring herself to damage all of this hard work, it would tear Ruby's heart to pieces. As painful as it would be, she would have to pick the lesser of the two evils and win Jaune's heart first. While it would still break her heart to not win the object of her desires, it would be a lot less painful than outright destroying her plans, "Here... sorry, sis." she handed back the paper to her struggling silver-eyed scythe-wielder snatched the set of plans with startling speed.

"If you steal any of my ideas you will wish I had the mercy to kill you." Ruby shot her sister a powerful death glare, silver hardening and transforming into steel as all manner of small and large cutlery were directed at the brawler.

Yang raised her hands in defense, "Hey, sis, I can't NOT take some of that because, y'know, it's unavoidable if I'm planning on having a normal relationship with him." she shrugged and tried to look innocent.

The reaper's gaze softened, "You too? I mean... you're... wanting-"

"Yeah... I guess I've just... figured out kinda how valuable someone like him is. He's, *sigh*... you know?" Yang couldn't find proper words at a moment's notice.

"Y-yeah, ever since he helped me up on our first day here at Beacon... can we agree on a ceasefire when it comes to Jaune?" Ruby offered a hand to shake.

The older of the sisters smiled softly, "Sure, as much as I want to sabotage you, I also don't want to hurt our friendship, sis." she opened her arms for a hug.

"Fwiendship~." the younger of the sisters recited with cheer, drawing out the word as she hugged her big sis with a happy grin, "Now then... get back to writing that essay, Yang, that's important."

"Aaawwwww~, can't I plan like you?" Yang moaned in complaint

"Nope!"

"But-"

"Nope!"

"I want to-"

"Write your essay? Awesome, get to it, sis." a small pale hand pointed towards the desk.

Yang let out a whine as she stomped back to the desk. Ruby was many things, easy to make compromises with was not one of them. Fiddling with her pencil for a few seconds, she went back to writing her essay, her thoughts still on how to get Jaune first.

Hopefully this wouldn't cause conflict.

* * *

"Please no..."

"But come OOOOOOONNNNNNNN!"

"But I don't want to."

"But we gotta do it! I don't like seeing you like this."

"Have you ever thought that maybe I _like_ being like this?"

"Lie Ren! As your best friend for life, it is my duty to ensure that you find a girlfriend!" Nora proclaimed matter-of-factly, booping the magenta-eyed boy on the nose.

Ren sighed, shaking his head, "And you aren't offering yourself... why?"

"Ren, we grew up together, like... dating you would feel like dating my BROTHER! And I don't do ince-" the rest of that word, as well as the rest of her sentence, was cut off as Ren firmly placed a hand over her mouth.

Ren gave her a lightly scolding look, ignoring Nora's tongue licking at and wiggling against his hand to try to convince him to let her go, "Nora, what did I say about 'don't say your complete thoughts', hm?" he released her mouth to get her answer.

Nora sighed and slumped a little bit, "Stop before saying any curse words or sexual stuff." she recited.

"Exactly... now then... why are we in the shopping district?" the green gunman looked out of the alleyway he and his hammer-wielding companion had taken sanction in, glancing around at the dozens of stores along the street, countless people hustling and bustling about.

"Duh, Ren! What do girls love? SHOPPING OF COURSE! I should know, after all, I'm a girl too!" Nora quickly pulled them both out of the alleyway, into the flow of people, and into a random store in the span of about five seconds.

"I don't think this is a good idea, Nora." Ren looked around at the contents of the store, which mainly consisted of women's undergarments.

"Don't worry, Renny, you'll figure something out, you're smart like that!" Nora reassured with a grin, right before shoving Ren further into the store.

Ren let out a small yelp, and only thanks to his many, MANY years of training did he not trip into a something.

This was going to be terrible.

* * *

Weiss huffed, crossing her arms with a frown on her lips. She had gotten dressed and spent _her_ valuable time waiting for the only bearable blonde she knew to arrive.

_And the dunce had the nerve to not show up!_

"Did I miscalculate something? No, no he _always _comes to the cafeteria _at this time_, why isn't he _here_? Of all the times for him to deviate from his schedule, he _had_ to pick the time when I actually want to accept his offer of going out with him?" she sighed.

Maybe she deserved this? She _had _rejected literally every single one of the knight's attempts at flirting or asking her out. In all honesty, she might have accepted if he hadn't been so... _forward_ with his attempts. A little tact on his part and she more than likely would have accepted.

With her plan already damaged, she had free time to think.

'Ugh, why have I started to like him? Well, that's easy, actually. He's not some gold digger, he doesn't want my money, he wants my happiness. Dammit Blake, why did you have to take the book? I kinda wanted that work wife and house husband picture.' she sighed longingly.

"You lookin' for some company, baby?" came a voice to her left.

Weiss turned and immediately called upon years of training to not immediately cringe away when she saw Russel Thrush of Team CRDL sitting next to her, smiling at her. She turned up her nose, "Piss off." and immediately stood up and walked away, her heels clicking on the floor with each forceful step.

When she was out of the cafeteria, she heard a beep from her scroll. Checking it, she nearly facepalmed.

_Reminder:_

_Check Dust shops in Vale City_

"How could I forget?" she sighed and began walking to the airship docks, continuing her previous thoughts.

'He's strong, and not just like Yang breaks faces, no... strong with will and heart. Even though he was rejected so many times, he didn't stop. I know that... I was taught young that a person is most honest when they think they're alone, that they're willing to open their chests and heads to lay their hearts and minds out on display when they think nobody else is around to witness them.' she thought back to the contents of his journal, his wishes to take her out on a date, and to show her love and adoration, to make her happy, to make her smile.

She couldn't help but smile at those thoughts. The boy had barely even known her, and already he was willing to fight for her to smile. Weiss couldn't tell if that was stupid or if that was love at first sight.

No, seriously, she actually couldn't tell, she had absolutely NO experience with guys who were actually like that, rather than, say, foolish greedy boys set upon her by their company-owning parents in an effort to get the two together and merge with the mega-corporation that was the SDC.

Frederic Mayflower? Trying to get a deal for his dad's watercraft company.

Jaden Strender? 'Dust could be essential in the next step in genetic research!'

Chris Wishworth? The desires of an animal and a sense of tact to match!

'Seriously! Who says "I wanna see you without clothes on" and does not honestly expect to get kicked in the crotch?!' Weiss' thought-voice was practically screaming.

Jaune Arc? Wanted to see her smile, because he thought she would be much more beautiful with a smile.

... idiot, how DARE he make her lose her precious composure like that?!

She was NOT blushing!

"Ah, h-hey, Weiss, are... are you okay? You look a little overheated." that boyish voice and kind sincerity could only belong to...

Weiss turned towards the source and was almost starstruck.

There he was, the man she'd been thinking of, and what a man he was! He was cut from an exquisite cloth, unlike the simple blue button-up shirt he wore, or the medium denim jeans he wore, or his brown leather shoes, but the difference was... striking. She could see a small bit of blonde stubble on his chin, and the way his hair had been tamed from its usual messy mop into something smoother and cleaner?

Jaune Arc? He was getting what he wanted, because Weiss couldn't help but smile as wide as she could manage.

"Weiss? Are you okay?" his voice had become deeper and smoother with a level of relaxation to it that both put her off and drew her in.

"Huh? Oh, uh, s-s-sorry, Jaune, I just... uh." she blushed even more, her face rivaling the redness of Ruby's cloak.

The knight looked at her, concerned, "You look really uncomfortable..." he gently reached his right hand toward her, "Hold still, I need to make sure you don't have a fever or something."

The fencer nodded meekly, standing nearly ramrod straight as the slightly cool, very comforting hand gently pressed against her forehead.

"Ah, good, not hot enough to be a fever, but just in case..." a soft, warm feeling flowed from his hand, filling the heiress with a sense of relaxation. Meanwhile on Jaune's end, he felt a tightness in his arm that felt similar to being squeezed on all sides, as well as a coldness. Attributing it to his arm simply falling asleep unexpectedly (his body was weird, he had come to realize, so it seemed normal enough to him) he continued filtering the healing aura into her for a few more seconds, "There we go, that should clear up any aches, pains, and possible future illnesses you might have gotten." he smiled a cheesy, goofy, but friendly grin, "Trust me, I'm not a doctor."

Weiss' reaction was not one he expected. She giggled at his words... she GIGGLED.

Jaune had never heard her giggle, but after hearing the symphony-like beauty of the sound, he wanted to record that sound so it would never be lost in this cruel world. Seeing her smile, he found it to be even more beautiful that he imagined. He could see the slight shine of her ice-blue eyes.

She was beautiful.

... and ridiculously out of his league.

* * *

_And now for something completely different._

"So... how ya doin', Little John?" his voice was light and cheerful, almost a little goofy. Then again, he was talking with one of his two prides and joys in this bleak world, how could he _not_ feel cheerful?

"Daaad~! It's _Slade _now, remember? You said to make a name when we got here." the slightly rough, but still youthful voice spoke over the secure line.

"I'll remember it when you get your grades high enough to go to Beacon." shoes clacked on the floor, metal meeting stone tended to do that.

"Well things are a little roof... at least the lab hasn't blown up."

"That's good, we need that lab."

"Yeah, your repairs aren't cheap-" the younger started

"-or possible-" the older interjected

"-without our lab. So... your aura is maintaining power levels?"

"Perfectly, more efficient than a billion batteries."

"Batteries ain't that efficient to start with, dad."

"Bah, you're no fun... so how are the scimitars workin' out?"

"Excellent! I think I may have even figured out what exactly my semblance is!"

"That's great, champ! So~... what is it?"

"Well at first I thought it was Electricity Manipulation, which would be, as you say, 'overpowered', because that would encompass a VERY wide array of abilities, probably more than I could learn in a lifetime."

"O...kay~... so what is it ACTUALLY?"

"So you know how we thought that your aura getting that massive jump in efficacy was it finally 'settling in'? Well turns out when I had attempted to heal you... my semblance was used. Soul Acceptance... I can break down the metaphorical door that makes people who go through surgery unable to fully use their prosthetic parts."

"I don't think I'm following you here, John..."

"What I'm saying is that, despite your metal and wires in place of flesh, your aura recognizes that your body is 'normal', and it will work to maintain it, even heal its wounds."

"So, say you lost an arm, and I attached a new robotic one..."

"I could use my semblance and the robotic arm would become, under my aura's metaphorical eyes, part of my 'normal state', so if I lost a finger on it, then with time and patience, it could regrow that robotic finger."

"Dear god... this is amazing! Do you realize what this could mean?"

"A lot of things, really. I'm still working with experiments, I managed to fuse some armor to a salamander."

"That's... _not_ what I would have gone for." he responded with slight hesitance.

"Hey, a salamander came into the lab and I caught it. It's stuck as my guinea reptile until it dies or outlives its usefulness."

The man stopped walking immediately, "Johnathan Rosebud Impatriot, I swear if I hear that thinking out of your mouth again, I will fly home MYSELF and slap some sense into you."

Slade gulped, "Yes... sir... s-s-sorry dad. I'm sorry." he sounded saddened and immensely remorseful.

The change in tone made the man stop walking, "Hey... look... just remember, champ. Justice."

"Justice." there was an audible nod of acknowledgement in the statement.

"Alright, well I'd better let you go for now, I'm almost at my destination."

"Oh, uh, o-okay, dad. See you later."

"See you later." with that, the call went dead.

Opening the doors, Raiden stepped into the classroom, "Hey, professor, sorry I'm late."

"Late? I say, Mister Raiden, today is not _late_! Filing things on time shows good work ethic, but filing them early shows even better initiative! Hahaha~." Professor Port chortled heartily, "Now then, where is the paperwork?"

* * *

"H-hey, s-so~..." *BA-BA-BANG* "Why are we doing this again?" the brunette panted lightly as he rested a hand on his hip and slumped to preserve energy

"Fighting our fellows is of little proper use! We slay the grimm-" *SHLUK* "-so we can know a more easy peace. We are eliminating the pests and the problems, though we leave the ones sized in between to our fellow students." a black boot met a blacker throat as Luke crushed the Beowolf's neck.

"Exactly~... it is, how you say~... the most lawful course of action." Fenerion grinned behind his mask as he swung his kama, Wraith-Splash, at a group of approaching Ursa, launching an arc of electrified water at them and shocking them all into stopping their charges...

At least long enough for his morningstar, Sear-Spike, to impale one of the Ursa's eyes and wrench off its facemask. As the assassin kept on the move, he did a backswing and impaled the second one's neck, then chopped the third one's neck with Wraithsplash before discharging a bit of the respective fire and electricity into the Grimm.

"Ah, 'kay then." Another three-round-burst of bullets spat from each of the three barrels of Ballistica, "You know, you guys are awesome. Not a lot of people are willing to deal with me because of..." he looked down at his hand, at the sharpened nails he naturally grew, "... my heritage."

Under his helmet, Luke frowned slightly, "'Tis of no concern, comrade. You are a skilled combatant and a good friend. As your teammates, this is all that we logically must care about. To dismiss you because of your wolf traits would be pure idiocy on our parts."

"Yeah, besides... I might as well reveal this now." Fenerion dropped the whistle and used his Other-Self in small measure to send an omni-directional pulse of aura to eliminate what else was coming their way.

"Reveal what, brother?" Luke sheathed his sword and put away his shield, turning to his lithe companion.

"Whatever it is, it can't be that bad." Evan compressed Ballistica and holstered them.

Fenerion shook his head, "They say just rip off the bandaid..." he lowered his hood and mask, revealing a scar along his mouth, fully revealing his unnaturally bright green eyes.

It also revealed a pair of black cat ears affixed atop his head.

A pregnant silence hung in the air for several uncomfortably long seconds, then it gave birth to a rhetorical question, "... you're a faunus too?" was Evan's dumbfounded response.

"Ever since I was born... my father is weak-willed, he ran away from her, probably to continue living an uncommitted life. I even once worked for the White Fang, though not long after they turned to their wicked regime of violence." the sneer upon his lips showed his hatred, "Such bastardization could go on without me helping it."

"Not long after? Did you perform some of their violent acts."

"Hehe... back when Sear-Spike was Smoke-Shroom, a flanged mace with fiery enhancement... I stopped just short of a swing that would have smashed a young man's face open... the look of despair in his eyes told me in that instant that he was doubting the life of the lord and thought I was the Reaper of Death, come to collect him. I could see a thousand utterances of repentance in those eyes... I left... unfortunately an uncouth fellowfaun was not so intuitive, and cut the man's neck. I was thirteen, I couldn't fight my way out past dozens of other armed members, not that I didn't outclass them, but that their collective luck would most-likely end with a lucky shot that would kill me... so I walked, quickly and quietly, and took up a new appearance and a new life when I escaped... nobody even realized I was leaving."

The cat faunus tensed up, ready for whatever verbal spat Luke, the most outspokenly anti White Fang person he'd met to date.

"Well... as long as you didn't lay the stain upon your slate, you'll be verily alright, friend." Luke said with his caber-bearing arms crossed over his broad chest, "Now then, shall we continue our extermination excursion?"

"Actually, bros, I was thinking that maybe we could just... chill out?" the gunner offered hesitantly, "I mean, we work enough under Raiden's schedule, Team FLRE ought to lay back and take a bit to not care." he shrugged with his offer.

"Hmm~... an expedition into town would be a most efficient way to spend our leisure time. Good plan, Evan, friend." the cat faunus agreed slyly

"Well then, I am wholeheartedly in agreement to this plan. Shall we?" the black knight drew his shield once more, "To the Academy! And then? To Vale City!" he began jogging toward the cliff, "Onwards!" he ordered almost mirthfully.

Wordlessly, the far lighter faunus pair followed.

* * *

"Ah~, nothin' like a nice sermon to ease the soul." Jaune sighed and smiled widely, stretching his arms over his head, "Though I'm surprised you came along with me, Snow Angel."

"Well, I was curious as to why you were dressed up, and after you practically sang the graces of the church, I had to see for myself." Weiss smiled, surprised at how good she felt.

All she did was sit and stand in a room for a couple of hours and occasionally sing songs, yet it made her feel good. Why? Was it some sort of actual holy strengthening? Was it a placebo effect to make her feel better about herself? Was it...

Was it him?

She looked up at Jaune again, blue meeting blue and smile exchanged with smile, "Well, nice to see I've lighted up your day. You deserve it, y'know." he smiled warm, friendly, charming smile, 'Just be honest about stuff, and you'll do fine. Just like Yang said, and Yang knows how to talk to people. She's a lot smarter than she gets credit for. Oh yeah! Be daring too! Don't be afraid to maybe look like a fool if it might also make you look cool!'

Pale cheeks reddened when that smile came out, "D-d-deserve it?"

"Yeah! Weiss, the queen of ice." he let out a small grunt as he focused his aura into his hand, letting movie knowledge tell him what was needed. A glowing white cane of energy formed under his hand, stretching and reaching down in rapid splinters as spun it around on a finger, "Angel of the Snow, she puts on quite the show~." he was practically singing now, "I could sing it to the WORLD~!" he pointed the cane towards the sky, still on a bit of a high from the feel-good atmosphere of the church, "All the beautiful things about this wonderful girl~!" he looked at Weiss again, smiling widely.

Weiss, on her part, was doing a very good impression of a smiling tomato, the look in her eyes was shy and bashful, obviously unused to such praise, or such praise at such volume. She could hear a few bits of lighthearted laughter from around the two.

"Aw yeah~! Job well done, Jaune, ya got her to smile." he did a goofy little celebration dance, which made her laugh and lighten up a bit, "H-hey! Is my friendship funny or something?"

"N-no, it's just, heeheehee, your dancing is funny, Jaune." her smooth lips curved up into a smile as she continued giggling.

To Jaune, her giggle was light, soft, almost powdery, and cool, like... well like a powdery snow that gently dusted his head and made him feel cool and relaxed, "Well I can dance better when I have a beat and a floor. I've been told I'm a pretty good dancer."

The fencer, to her credit, felt playful, and because of that, her response was simply, "Oh? Well I'd love to see you try."

The knight felt ecstatic. He was talking to Weiss! She hadn't huffed and stomped off, she hadn't called him a dunce and stomped off, she hadn't... well there were a LOT of things she hadn't done that she might have the mind to do to him immediately before stomping off. She was acting far unlike anything he'd seen before. She was acting warmer, more lighthearted, friendly, and even playful. She wasn't being the cold, prissy heiress that most saw her as, rather she was being... strikingly similar to how he had predicted she might be if someone took the time, heart, care, and warmth to melt the ice she put up around her heart and mind.

It made him feel unbelievably happy. He had, with kindness and gentleness, brought out a better side of her. She had smiled, fully and wholly, for the first time he'd seen since he met her.

'I guess I was right... all she needed was just some love, care, and warmth to make her happy.'

Unbeknownst to either of them, a subtle glow covered them both, invisible under the sun's light.

* * *

Pyrrha sighed. Once more, Jaune was nowhere to be found. She'd looked everywhere in Beacon, even going so far as to check in on his new group of friends, Team FLRE. Unfortunately, they were all out, so she was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The rock of being unable to find her beloved leader, and the hard place of admitting defeat and giving up the search.

The spartan sighed so heavily she briefly thought she lost weight until she breathed in again, at which point not only did the heaviness in her body increase, but so did the heaviness in her heart.

'He probably has found a girl who's willing to put up with his goofiness... why couldn't that be me~? I'm his partner, I saved his life, I unlocked his aura, I deserve _him_ doing something for _me_ for once!' she grit her teeth, composing herself enough to keep her aura from flaring up. Many were intimidated by the aesthetic effect it had taken during her career as a huntress.

Sparks, a swirling flurry of dark maroon sparks around her form.

It wasn't the most reassuring of sights.

Were they sparks of fire? Of electricity?

Yes.

'What will it take to deepen our relationship? What does he want most? I'd give him anything just to win his love! I'd _do_ anything to win his love! Even...' her cheeks matched her hair as she changed course, 'I need to blow off some steam.' she headed towards the locker room. Milo and Akuou were calling to her.

At some point, she was surprised to see Cardin Winchester toweling off a sheen of sweat next to his open locker, which happened to be fairly close to her own.

The mace-wielder stretched a bit, his head happening to turn in Pyrrha's direction, "Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" he hoped to crack her seemingly impenetrable composure. If he could get _Pyrrha Fucking Nikos _to get mad, that would be a victory for the ages.

"Quiet, Winchester. Unless you know where Jaune is, I don't wanna hear it." she opened her locker and took Milo and Akuou from inside, gazing briefly at the picture of Jaune she had stuck to the inside of her locker. He had a carefree smile on his handsome face, and looked relaxed and happy. Pyrrha had taken it in secret just a few moments before she gently forced the knight to stop reading his X-Ray and Vav comic and to start reading his Grimm Studies textbook.

The spartan sighed longingly as she pushed her locker closed and walked away with the dignity and composure that had been drilled into her for years.

What she didn't notice was her locker's failure to close.

Cardin finished wiping his slightly reddened face dry, glaring holes in the back of Pyrrha's head as she disappeared from sight. When she was gone, Cardin stood up.

He couldn't help but notice her locker was still cracked open, and grinned, going over and opening it fully.

It was barren except for a few pictures taped to the back inside wall.

Pictures... of Jaune.

Cardin scowled. That blonde wimp had become a gigantic pain in his side.

He had been useful at some point, trapped under Cardin's thumb, but then the guy grew a backbone and pulled off a crazy Ursa kill, _twice._

The mace wielder slammed the locker shut, storming out of the room.

He would make the swordsman pay for being such a nuisance.

He would have his revenge for being humiliated.

He would get vengeance in the name of his reputation and dignity!

* * *

"Hm?"

"What is it, Mister Raiden?" Port asked with a bit of concern, unsure what caused the student to pause.

"... nothing, just... thought I heard something." Raiden grimaced, a few bad memories surfacing, but he continued his work.

"Well, alright then... so, AHA! I have passed a record of three pipes in this 'Flappy Bird' game, soon I will flap all the way to victory!" the mustached man laughed in minor victory.

Raiden rolled his eyes, but smiled.

It was the little things.

* * *

Jaune was confused. He had absolutely no idea how his course of action led him to this moment.

Ren felt sorry for his fellow man. He knew exactly why they were here, and knowing didn't help.

"Alright! Noble knight, faithful monk, while the princess of the north is off at her embassy, I, the queen of the castle of thunder, shall assist you both!" Nora proudly proclaimed, beaming a smile as bright as a flash of lightning.

"Uh~... what?" was all Jaune could manage, utterly confused.

"Well I figured that since Ren is all sad and needs a girlfriend to boost his mood and his confidence, I figured that since you don't have a lot of confidence then I could also help you get a girlfriend so it'll boost that and your mood and then half of our team will be in prime condition! And we'll win every fight they throw at us we'll be the best!" the hammer wielder finally breathed after explaining her intentions in one go.

"Wait, find Ren a girlfriend? But I thought-"

"Nope! Ren and I are like brother and sister! I mean, come ON Jauney, you wouldn't date YOUR sister, would you?" Nora giggled loudly as she imagined Jaune and what her mind immediately conjured as another Jaune, but smaller and wearing a dress.

Ren's eyes widened as he saw Jaune tense up, his aura glowing slightly as he got the look of a man enraged. It wasn't so much directed towards his orange-haired teammate as it was at something internal.

Jaune seethed inside his mind. Nora's words had brought up bad memories, and all of them occurring within the past couple of months. Some of the bullying he'd received. Most of it was senseless garbage he could pass off like water off the duck's back, but a few comments had... struck _far_ too close to home.

He couldn't blame Nora, he knew that she didn't know of these other comments, or perhaps even of his hometown. If she knew of these other bullies, there would be a mass of cases of broken legs rising up in the days to come.

It was a simple concept, but it was slathered with monumental layers of taboo.

Incest.

There were some lines that nobody should cross.

...

"...-aune please don't be mad at me!" his senses kicked back in and he heard Nora quickly saying something very loudly.

"Huh?" was all he managed, "What?" oh, wait, there was more, "Nora?"

"I'm sorry Jaune please don't be mad at me!" the explosives expert repeated with a remorseful frown on her face, "I just wanna help out, not make you mad, but I made you mad and I'm sorry!"

Brotherly instincts kicked in and Jaune put a hand on Nora's shoulder, "H-hey, Nora, calm down, it wasn't your fault, you didn't know, and I'm not mad at you, just at some idiots at the school." he chuckled softly, "I couldn't possibly get mad at someone as happy and cheerful as you, Nora." he gave her that charming smile, "So come on, be happy and cheerful."

Nora couldn't help but brighten up, "Okay~!" she grinned cheerily and placed one hand on either boy's shoulders and lifted herself up above their heads, "Okay! Ten minutes, go get girls' scroll numbers, the one with the most wins!" she whistled to signal the start of the game, "GOOOOO~!"

"Wait WHAT?" Jaune stood there confused for several seconds.

The green gunman smoothed down his green jacket while processing the words of his companion, "We have to get girls' scroll numbers, Jaune, to get potential dates... just do it to make Nora happy."

'Well... I can do that, I suppose. For Nora, to make her happy... why? Will it make her feel like she helped us? That's... really sweet, actually.' he smiled, Nora may have been crazy at times, but Jaune could appreciate the thought she put into it.

He could do this.

'Alright, let the game begin.'

* * *

**Well, that's as far as I'm willing to bring this chapter.**

**So yay! Excuse for Nora to get in on the eventual harem, XD**

**And Jaune's tactic for this game will be some hardcore BS**

**Just wait and see.**

**Next chapter: Smarter, and maybe Harder.**


	8. Smarter, and maybe Harder

**Okay so I'm gonna be turbo-working to get this chapter out as soon as possible.**

**To clear up something from a question I saw in a review on the last chapter:**

**In this story, Vale is based on the continent of North America, and there are 10 cities, but the two important ones are:**

**Vale City, which is the largest and is ****equivalent to**** New York City**

**Coldwater, which is the smallest and is ****equivalent to Texas (yes, _all_ of Texas)**

**That all being said, this means Jaune is a country boy, and I always imagined him as either a nobleman's son, or a country boy, so I went with both.**

**You come to Texas and you'll find it REALLY hard to find someone who isn't religious.**

**Also, the religion in Remnant is, for obvious reasons, based around Monty Oum and all his wonderfulness.**

**I won't go into detail, but for my own sake because I'm lazy, it will conveniently have the same holidays as the ones we have IRL.**

**Hehe.**

**Hahaha.**

**Hahahaha.**

**Funny I bring up religion in this chapter's author notes.**

**A bit of forewarning, there is minor nudity in this chapter (just a bit of exposed boobs and butts) and in the future I will definitely be upping the story's rating to M for obvious (harem) reasons.**

**That is all.**

**Please enjoy the story.**

**RWBY belongs to RoosterTeeth**

**Chapter 8: Smarter, and maybe Harder**

* * *

Ren smiled. He had been at this for nine minutes and got eight numbers.

He collapsed onto a table near a girl who was texting, "Gah~, I need some assistance."

The girl rushed over, "Oh my gosh, are you okay?!" her words were quick and somewhat panicked, but Ren had heard far more incomprehensible stuff from Nora, and had no trouble getting it on the first try.

"I need~..." he croaked out.

"What do you need?"

"I need your name, phone number, and a brief message..." he suddenly shot up, "So you can enter for a chance to win one MILLION lien~!" the sudden mood whiplash would be shocking to anyone who had known Lie Ren for more than five minutes.

Luckily this girl had not, "Ohmigosh! This is like one of those TV ads?!"

"Uh, yeah, so... scroll number, and five lien."

The girl happily gave him a slip of paper with the requested information, as well as a five lien note, "Hehe, I've never actually done one of these things before."

"Well there's a first time for everything. Thank you, and we'll contact you if you've won." and with that, he walked away.

Meanwhile on the opposite end of the food court, Jaune watched in shock as his usually quiet friend went from normal, to something akin to Nora's usual energy, then back to normal in the span of twenty seconds.

All he had done thus far was get rejected by about ten different girls, and the eleventh threw her milkshake in his face.

Strawberry, and not even a tenth as good as the one Ruby made him that one time.

He had finally finished cleaning the milkshake off his face and the little bit that got on his shirt, then practiced with his aura by absorbing the water to dry off.

Checking the time, he found he only about thirty seconds to beat Ren.

If he couldn't use his charms, he could use his mind!

'Uh, uh, uh, aw nuts.' he looked around for any sort of salvation.

He smiled so wide it hurt when he found it.

* * *

"So, what do you hold in that... arm computer of yours, if not your schoolwork?" Port asked as he swirled a glass of scotch in his hand with a strip of bacon.

"Oh? Memories... from... before." Raiden's tone lost its usual mirth and turned dark, depressed, and remorseful.

_'You're pretty good~...'_

_'Stop! Stop it!'_

_'Fuck this war! I just wanna see you DEAD!'_

_'Dad, when are we going home?'_

The sound of Port whistling broke the suited swordsman out of his stupor, "Mister Raiden, please put the sword away."

Looking to his hands, he realized he had drawn his sword in a, thankfully cut-short, fit of PTSD-induced mania. Sheathing the gray blade in the mechanical scabbard on his back, he took in a deep breath and sighed heavily, a sense of longing filling the air.

"Are you going to be okay?" the stout man's joviality faded away, replaced by a calm, wise, but caring tone.

Swallowing back some bile that made its way up his throat, the blonde man nodded, "Yeah... I'm gonna be fine." he internally winced at the tension in his words.

"Try to get some rest. I imagine you're quite tired from overseeing five different reports." the mustachioed man patted him on his shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah..." he faked a yawn, "Overseeing, yeah... I'm going to go now." he took his briefcase laptop and walked out of the door.

The hall was thankfully empty, and he was allowed a few minutes to think. He had to control himself, with the power he contained, both physical and through his aura, if he lost control...

Oum have mercy on whoever opposed him, because he would NOT.

"Oh! Hey! Raiden!" a young, cheerful voice called out.

Internally wincing, pale blue eyes turned to see the adorable sight of Ruby Rose approaching quickly, wearing a black A-Shirt with a beowolf-themed heart on the chest, a red and black plaid shirt over it, only the bottom half being buttoned, black skinny jeans, and her red and black Superstar II sneakers.

"Oh, Ruby, hey there." he felt pain mix with a sense of ease.

"Raiden, you know how you and Jaune are friends?"

"I'd like to think of us that way, I mean, I spent a good couple of minutes typing his report for him... I'll let you take the credit on that one for me, it ought to win some big points with him."

"W-w-what~?" Ruby was shocked, did he know?

"I like to think I have experience with love, Rubes. and I must say that you're sure to win him over if you give him that armor and tell him you wrote his report for him."

"Oh... th-thank you, Raiden." the silver-eyed girl blushed and nodded, "I'm gonna go now." she pointed her thumb behind her, "OkayseeyoulaterifIneedmorehelp!" and she sped off with her semblance-enhanced speed.

Well, his mood had improved in only seconds, maybe today would be better.

* * *

"TIME~!" Nora called out loudly, getting a big cheery grin. Several people looked her way, but shrugged it off. She just looked like the kind of person who would shout things.

Ren was back by the table in short order, smiling, "Well... I feel better." he said with twice the life of his usual tone.

"That's great, Renny!" the bubbly bomber looked at his hands, "So what'cha get, then?"

"Ten." he slapped down the paper slips as Jaune walked up slowly, his hands behind his back, "And good to see you looking happy, Jaune, but I managed to get ten numbers."

"Nine, and a five lien note." Nora corrected as she pocketed the money, "What did you get, Jauney?"

*WHAM*

A large, heavy book slammed into the table, knocking away the crumpled slips that held Ren's gains.

"What is THAT?" the ginger girl asked, trying to figure heads or tails of it.

"The phone book." Jaune smiled with a bit of smug satisfaction, "There are PLENTY of girls' phone numbers in there."

Nora realized what the knight was meaning, and smiled, "Wow! That's really smart!" she opened the book, "And there are police stations, hospitals, fire stations, and all sorts of stuffs too!" she grabbed Jaune's hand and raised it up, "Jaune wins!"

Ren just shook his head, "Well, you outsmarted me, Jaune, good job." he stuck out his hand and smiled.

Jaune shook Ren's hand and smiled back, feeling happy, "Thanks, good game, man."

The two bro-fisted, and Nora beamed a smile, feeling proud of herself.

She helped! Yay! Now Jaune would...

What would Jaune do?

'How do I know that any girl he found would even like him? Also, calling people randomly would creep out most of those people...' she hummed at the thoughts, watching Jaune.

The blue-eyed youth was putting away the phone book he'd taken, smiling as he did so.

She tapped her chin in thought, 'Why though? If Jaune asked _me_ out on a date, why would I NOT say yes?! Jaune is a really awesome guy! He's tall, and muscly, and he has a sword and shield, like a ye old knight of a big royal castle!' she smiled widely.

He was walking back now, the sword and shield she'd thought of was being lightly jostled with every step he took.

'If I had a castle, I wonder if Jaune would be my loyal knight? Hmmmm... it's possible, I mean, he said he would do anything for his team, and I'm part of the team! Yay! Listening to Jauney talk in his sleep has paid off a whole bunch now.' the hammer-wielder smiled up at Jaune, recalling how tall he was compared to her five-foot-three frame the second their eyes met.

Jaune looked down at Nora after feeling her eyes on him, "Is there something you want to say, Nora?"

"Yes! Jaune, can you give me a piggyback ride?"

"W-what?" Jaune scratched the back of his head confused, "You..."

"Puh-LEEEEEEZE~?" Nora put on the puppy-dog eyes.

"Okay, fine, but only because you said please." the knight turned around and squatted a little bit.

The first thing Jaune found out when Nora hopped on was that she was heavier than she looked, probably about one-hundred-forty pounds.

Well, he could carry that.

"Let's find the princess of the north, and then? We get pancakes~!" Nora commanded, pointing forwards dramatically.

Jaune sighed, 'The things I do for my friends... if I did it all over... I'd still do it all the same...'

* * *

*BRRRING BRRIING*

*CLICK*

"Hello~?" the sweet, smooth, syrupy voice drizzled into the receiver.

"Ah, hello there~!" came a charming male voice spoke from the other end, "Is this the Triple Threat?"

"One~ of my many~ names~, yes~, to some~ I am the Triple _Treat_~." just like the man she'd just left behind. He had paid for an adventure, and he got one, and she got three servings of 'whipped cream', "So, to whom~ am I speaking~?"

"Well you can just called me the lantern man... I'd like to enlist your mercenary services."

"Mercenary~? Well~, I don't receive many of _those~_ requests~, Mister Lantern~, mostly escorts~, or my delectable~ adventures~."

The man stuttered slightly, catching the lewd tone in her last few words, "Er... right... I would say... can we meet next week on Tuesday, by the warehouse near dock nine?"

"Well~." Neo pulled out a pocket calendar, finding all of the next week to be empty, "I can pencil you in~ for Tuesday~, Mister Lantern~. We'll talk then~, okay~?"

"Excellent, because there are some things that need to be discussed."

"Discussion~ is the first step to solving~ your problems~."

The line went dead.

"Well how RUDE~." the multi-colored woman pouted grumpily, pocketing her scroll, "He could at least have said goodbye."

That guy was weird, and a little bit creepy, not at all like the blond boy, Jaune.

Jaune was certainly interesting. One thing she found out quickly was that he was honest and sincere with his words, and she had never received such deep gratitude before, it was... different.

... and certainly something she liked.

Smiling, she stepped into the shadows, and with a single thought and a well-practiced flicker of aura, she vanished into the shadows to reappear somewhere else.

* * *

_Meanwhile somewhere else entirely_

"GYO~! Cyome on, Iron Myan, you cyan dyo it!... YAAAAAAAY~! BWOW UP DA ALIENS!... Wait wha~? Nyu! Nyu! Nyu nyu nyu NYUUUUUU~!" cherry-red eyes watered as Tony Stark fell lifelessly back down through the portal.

How could they do something like that?

Oh... luckily he was caught before he hit the ground, but still!

He was... dead.

"Cyome on! Cyome on~! Thor, use your wightning pyowers~! Jyarvis wyake up~! Bwack Widow, Hawkeye, styahp byeing useless and hyelp him~! Captain Atlas, do a fancy trick to restart his Ark Reactor thingy! Hulk, use your-" she was cut off as Hulk practically roared at the unconscious avenger, shocking him awake, "YAAAAAY~! HE'S AWIVE~! HULK YOU DYID IT~!" she cheered adorably, pumping her fists in victory.

Soon enough, the credits were rolling.

"Okyay! Gyood myovie! Tyen out of tyen!... I wanted to syee Dyeadpoow in there at least once... he's my favowite Mawvel chawacter..." she removed the DVD from the player and put it back in the box.

Well now what?

She was scared of a lot of the selection of video games, especially those ones with the scary names, like Gears of War, or Splinter Cell, or Call of Duty, oh my~!

So spooky!

"... D'ooohhhhh~, nyow what?" she looked over all of the boxes, pouting.

Crap, it wasn't here! Where was it?

"Myoooommmm~?!" she called out, opening the door to the room.

"Yes sweetie?!" her mother called back from the kitchen.

"Whewe's the Ghyostbustyews DVD?!" it was her favorite movie of all time. She knew the theme song by heart and could sing it in her sleep! The theme song also made her feel better when she was scared, and she got scared VERY often without her big brother around.

"Uh... oh! It's downstairs, sweetie, remember we all watched it together the other night?"

"Oh yeah! Thyanks myom." she skipped down the hall and down the stairs, her comfy shoes making little *tappy-tap* sounds with her steps.

Sitting excitedly on the living room couch, cherry-red eyes sparkled with delight when the movie loaded up on the massive TV in the middle of all the family photos.

There were a _LOT_ of family photos on the walls.

She didn't really care, she just wanted to watch Bill Murray and his friends bust some ghosts!

Doing a little dance to the theme song, she giggled, and sang along when the trumpet came in, "Nya-nya-nyan-nya-nya-nya~! Nya-nya-nyan-nya-nya-nya~! Nya-nya-nyan-nya-nyan-nyan, GHYOSTBUSTYEWS~!" she paused to take a sip of her milk.

Life was good for her.

* * *

Weiss sighed in relief. The dust stores in the mall were luckily still turning profits, not that she had any doubts, after all.

Now she just needed to find Jaune again, hopefully before the big lunkhead got himself into trouble.

"Hark! Princess of the north! Do your embassies still function within these borders?" Nora called out in a giggly voice, which made Weiss turn towards her.

"What are you talki-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" she nearly screeched at the sight of Jaune giving Nora a piggyback ride.

"Nora politely asked fer a piggyback ride, so I'm givin' her one."

Weiss was surprised, and then her surprise faded into acceptance. Of _course_ Nora would ask for a piggyback ride, she was prone to do such childish things, and no offense to Ren but she doubted he could carry the muscle-bound ginger very far, muscles tended to make someone weigh more, never mind her monstrous weapon that nearly rivaled Ruby's in its brutality.

"Alright then..." the heiress couldn't really complain, as she would have never thought of getting a piggyback ride until it had been brought up.

"Okay! So now that we're all done here, let's head home!" Nora pointed Jaune towards one of the many exits to the mall.

After a few seconds of walking, the group began talking again, the knight telling a story he felt would get some laughs out of the bomber, gunman, and fencer.

Overall, they enjoyed their time together, it was nice.

It was _normal._

It was _refreshing._

It was _wonderful._

* * *

"Broad strokes of the brush, full of strength and might, crushing the machinations of all brushes that are more light. A simplicity in its horror, a hunger in its mass, I am the coroner, and this day shall be your last." midnight-blue eyes read from the book in his left hand as his right painted the canvas, the smallest of his brushes, still half an inch wide, in his hand.

A staff member ran through the hall, he could feel it in his cursed bones.

The door opened, a motion that was so easy it could be done without thought.

"My lord!" he said, his thin body shivering from the cross-campus journey.

"Balkas, what is the problem?" he said calmly, his aura ready to retrieve his heavy sword, the dirt-brown blade edged with a pale and sickly green, like a graveyard's deadened grass covering its rich, corpse-fed soil.

The robed man's thin face was tanned from his prolonged exposure to the sun, his unnaturally bright green eyes and cracked teeth belying his true nature.

The master of the campus smiled, though he knew his actions were against most of society's norms, he was fighting to claim what was rightfully his.

What rightfully belonged to the strong.

Still, despite his dark heart, he had grown to care for speedy undead. Once an almost literal husk, he had been sworn to a life of servitude in exchange for, well, _being alive_.

Balkas, his oldest and most loyal subject, was showing more signs of life every day, his skin looked healthy, his hair had recently fully regrown, though it was still uneven and needed to be trimmed up to look normal. His glowing green eyes were the only telling sign of his nature.

And these thoughts made the master smile, as his minion's growth reminded him that, should he feel so inclined, he could send Balkas out into normal society, and let him live a normal life among normal people.

Unfortunately, _normal_ was about as far from his goals as the word 'normal' was from the word 'aardvark' in the dictionary.

"Target 2-5 was spotted at the mall!" the minion repeated the message he'd gotten from one of the agents.

"... so?"

"So... should we send someone to kill him?"

"Tis' too risky in such a populated area. We make a buzz, people get curious, far more bloodshed than necessary as the unwary flock to the slaughter to weak little lambs."

"Then what, master?"

"Please, Balkas, I told you, call me Sir."

Balkas cleared his throat, "Th-then what, s-sir?"

Midnight blue eyes wandered over his painting. An image of himself, in his full, deathly, dark-gray combat gear, crushing the head of a faceless knight under his foot, his weapons and armor were all splattered with blood.

Unfortunately, that is how it had to be, as the matter he was dealing with could not be solved with a simple murder, no...

The goal he had set could only be achieved by a long, arduous process. He had everyone he needed, though, and it would only be a simple matter of taking the body alive and going through the steps.

Soon, he would finally achieve his goal.

Soon, the power he lusted for would be his.

Soon, Penuai Kubur would drink the blood and crush the bones of the one and only Jaune Arc.

Soon, but not now.

"Tell D4 to report back to the HQ, then contact the lab and have them craft the necessary poisons for an aggressive, but stealthy kidnapping." the blue-eyed master commanded.

"What about C3? And B2, sir?"

"Good point... tell them to prepare in case D4 fails."

"Alright... and you, sir?"

A hand smoothly ran through slicked-back pale blond hair, "I have painted and read my quota for the day, tell Monica to bring me whatever paperwork needs doing, then I shall go to my training course for a time as long as I see fit."

"A-a-alright, sir. I shall inform them all right away." and with that, the speedy undead zipped off at high speed.

Alone now, the master of the campus sat behind he desk, then he poured himself a glass of whiskey, and finally, fished a cigarette out of his supply.

"Ah~, rotten corn juice and the dried, chopped-up corpses of tobacco, truly a testament to the dead." he said in a poetic tone as he drank and smoked.

A minute or two later, he tapped off the ashes of his cigarette into the tray in front of his nameplate.

**Headmaster Kain**, it read.

Grandson of Jon Alich, the Brusher of the Snows, who was also the founder of Alich Academy.

The same deadly wrath his grandfather held for the Arc family flowed through Kain's blood three times as strong.

He would be the one to enact their revenge.

However, unlike his fathers before him, he would carry out his work intelligently, and avoid needless bloodshed.

Though... in the end... bloodshed was unavoidable.

And unfortunately for his intelligent side... deep down?

Deep down, he was as dead and uncaring as the zombie he raised last week.

* * *

*THUNK THUNK THUNK*

*CLANG*

*CLANG*

*CLANG*

*FWOOSH~*

It was amazing what human skin could take before catching fire, so much so that it unnerves some people.

Human hair though? Human hair could catch a spark and pitch back an inferno.

That's why Ruby had short hair.

THAT... and it was easier to manage, easier to clean, didn't need to be brushed or combed often, could be covered easily, and could look good whether groomed or messy.

It helped that this interest worked in tandem with her love of forging, which her uncle said 'was the Rose in her'.

'Then what's the Xiao Long in me?'

'I'll tell you when you're older.'

Well, she was older and she still didn't fully know, just vague hints that her hair would get longer and her boobs would get bigger.

She didn't like where that led, but she couldn't fight genetics, so she'd learn to deal with it.

Just like she was dealing with this weapon.

"Honestly, I'm surprised Jaune could come up with a design so intelligent so quickly. I guess he's got a bit of a natural knack for weapons too." she said with a smile, raising her protective mask after finishing one of the final forges of the weapon.

The machete-pistol was easy to properly reforge for a blacksmith of Ruby's level.

Adding a few pieces of stock metal and some bits of additive agents to improve the metal's quality for weapon forging. Forging out and hand-beveling the blade. Grinding the edge to be very, VERY sharp. Grinding a false partial back edge to give it a much stronger stabbing point.

Adjusting the pistol's barrel to fit with the pipe, as well as making the entire thing more able to house it. Fixing the kinks in the pistol's mechanisms and truing it up to ideal .45AHP chambering standards, and making it able to be loaded and fired. Test-firing the pistol with the adjusted mechanisms.

Forming a new handle out of a stronger plastic and covering it in a layer of black rubber for extra grip. Securing the handle with bright blue screws. Reshaping and forming the shovel's head into a protective and reinforcing sleeve for the barrel. And finally the screws that kept the sheathe attached.

It had been a LOT of work, but she was proud of it.

"Wow, that's a pretty great build, Miss Rose." Jett said with a smile, hopping over the anvil to get closer.

"Th-thanks." Ruby blushed slightly, but in her field of expertise, she was comfortable, and Jett was cool. His older brother, Terry, managed her favorite weapons store. Jett wasn't an old gray-haired guy like the Forgemaster, Sonny, rather he was younger, no older than thirty, and looking to become the next Forgemaster when Sonny retired.

"Hey, if I didn't know a good build when I saw one, I wouldn't be fit to take the mantle of the Forgemaster of Beacon."

"Uh... th-th-thanks..." the scythe-wielder silently wished the man would go back to his fixing stock blocks of metal and casting scraps, scale, and powder through the recovery purifier to form back into metal blocks.

"So, what made you want to build something so far outside of your usual style?" he asked casually, sitting on top of the anvil while the horns of it grew hot.

That was one of two things that made the crafts of the Slagfire brothers so amazing, Jett's semblance was Heat Displacement, and Terry's semblance was Earth Displacement. Together, they could heat an entire piece of metal that was chock-full of impurities by a square inch of it, forge out the excess impurities out with extreme ease, and make very high quality metal-works for a less than a fraction of their value, thus turning massive profits. It was a business Ruby had been in on for three years now. Why?

It was easy, forging was fun, and she got discounts!

DISCOUNTS!

Who didn't like discounts?

"Discounts?" she said without thinking.

"Discounts? I can understand that the smaller ammunition would be more economical than your usual massive rounds, but I would imagine you would be using a more speed-based weapon, rather than something relying more on strength."

"What?... oh! N-n-no, Jett." she blushed out of embarrassment, "Uh, it's actually for a really good friend, Jaune Arc, leader of Team JNPR, he told me about..." her mind raced to think of something, "About an alternate loadout he had been thinking of, and he left me a note saying that he had the idea for this weapon yesterday, and so I decided to give it a shot, hehe." she laughed awkwardly, "He's a really good friend, and I figured~." she stopped, trying to think of a way to word what she wanted to say without her love for him being too obvious.

"You want to be more than friends, don't you?"

Ruby blushed hard, as though a quadrillion red roses had bloomed across her face, "Is it that obvious to everyone but him?"

"It's obvious to anyone with any experience with love, Miss Rose." Jett rested his chin on his hand and his elbow on his leg, the sitting position more scholarly and thoughtful, "So why haven't you told him?"

"Because it's embarrassing and I don't want to embarrass him because I want our memories together to all be nice and happy and sweet and just... yuuush~, y'know?" Ruby couldn't help but gush slightly at thinking of all the good things that would come out of their relationship.

"You know, just because it's embarrassing doesn't mean it's bad, in fact, sometimes the best things in life... are like a rough-forged billet." he lifted a slag-coated piece of metal into view, "It might look daunting, but you have to grind past this nitty-gritty scale on the surface in order to get to the good, usable stuff underneath. Then... you put in the work to shape it into what you want, and the metal won't always agree with you, so you have to work with it, normalize what you want, and then it will be what you want it to be." his eyes went from the metal to the young reaper, whose eyes glimmered and danced with thought.

The silver-eyed huntress stayed silent for a long time, her young engineering mind processing the older smith's words.

He had made a good point, love was something that was difficult, but the feelings it brought were over ten times the worth, and it may have looked rough, but what in life _wasn't _rough?

The feelings Jaune had made her feel, the warmth, the safety, the security, the comfort to her pain, the cool refreshing feeling to the hot spikes of internal agony she sometimes felt in her young, delicate heart.

He was like morphine, he numbed her pain and brought her a happy feeling, and she felt, deep down...

Deep down she felt something in him, he gave this vibe of a protector, of a guardian, of a paragon, of someone who would do anything to save everyone he could.

And she felt this feeling too strongly to ignore it. Ruby knew that Jaune was who she needed.

She would do whatever it took to make sure he knew vice versa.

"Th-thanks, Jett... I'll try me best to... to do all that... for right now, I should probably polish the blade and the screws to make sure they're good and presentable." the younger smith said with more confidence than she thought she could muster.

"Alright, a shining blade for the knight in shining armor, nice." and with that, Jett hopped over the anvil again, "If you need anything, Sonny and I are always here."

All the older smith got for a response was a nod, which he took without question, since Ruby was a smith at work, and smiths at work were _very _focused.

Running the blade firmly up and down the polishing wheel, Ruby thought of the best way to secure herself in Jaune's heart.

A stray thought ran through her head, it was something very powerful, and personal, and _**permanent**,_ but she trusted Jaune enough, and she was willing to do whatever it took to have him.

She just hoped her dad wouldn't be too mad about it.

* * *

_Later that day._

Jaune's eyes widened at the sight of the machete pistol, which Ruby presented with pride in her silver eyes.

He gave it a few test swings, feeling its weight and smiling. The weapon felt strong, and powerful, and he felt a little playful, "Hehe, thanks for the razor, Rosie."

Ruby blushed, confused, "R-razor? It's a mache-" she stopped when Jaune rolled up his sleeve and light glided the blade down his bare forearm, coming off with some hair, "Oooohhhh~, hehehe." she giggled, the adorable, cherub-like sound was music to the knight's ears.

"Man, another gift like this and I might have to kiss you." he said jokingly, but with a strong undertone of honesty.

Pale cheeks became as red as both of their owner's namesakes as lithe, dexterous hands twitched. She licked her suddenly dry lips and swallowed to try to open her tightening throat.

This was it, the moment of truth.

She put a finger to his chuckling lips, silencing him. His royal-blue eyes widened as she walked over to his locker, punched in the code he'd told her in case he ever forgot, and opened it.

Inside, on full display, was his armor. The ivory-white plates gleamed in the artificial light of the locker, and he could see the adjustments and additions she'd made, the lengthening of the pauldrons and chestplate, the shinguards, the bracer for his sword arm.

It was beautiful.

It was marvelous.

It was magnificent!

And...

And it was all for him...

Time seemed to slow down as blue met silver, and a connection was made, a spark of flame, a small surge of electricity, a seeping warmth inside of him.

He hugged her close to his body, her face gently pressed into his chest.

"Thank you... Ruby... thank you." he struggled to find words, "I know it may seem a bit disproportionate, but... this means a lot, that... that you would help me like this... help me be better equipped to be a better Huntsman... I could never thank you enough... because... while I can also thank Yang and Pyrrha for helping hone my skills, I wouldn't be able to do a lot without my trusty sword, shield, and armor. I..." he found himself at a loss for words. This moment... it metaphorically scraped at his eyes, trying to open them to witness some... feeling he felt inside.

Ruby slowly hugged him back, her body warm against him, and when Jaune's words were done processing in her mind, she finally spoke, "I... I can't help but feel, these feelings for you... I want to help you, Jaune. I want to help everyone, especially you, boyo... you're a good guy, Jaune, a guy that... I trust. I... I don't have a whole lot, but I _do_ have a particular set of skills, skills that... I'm willing to use to help you... and, after I just... sort of abandoned you on our da-" she stopped, her breath hitching, "On... our... date." she stopped again, the word sending spikes of emotions through her mind, "I felt awful, you were wanting me to show you around the city and I got excited by something and I left you behind... I... I guess a little bit of good came out of it, since I got the materials to make you the new armor, and I guess that's what gave me the courage to come out and say this stuff." she paused to look up at his expression, which was awestruck, with his eyes flickering with thought, and she continued, "So, there, I... I really like you..."

It was Jaune's turn to process his companion's words, and he couldn't help but smile, "Ruby... don't be sad, or remorseful, or angry, or... ANY of that, I want you to be happy... truth be told I want all of you to be happy, I want to give everyone I can a chance to be happy, a chance to live life to the fullest, and... everything... and I want... I want to be happy too, but it's hard to be happy when I'm trying so hard to make others happy, but I'll manage." he chuckled dully, giving Ruby a soft, sweet, caring kiss on the forehead.

The ravenette looked up at the blonde with a few tears in her eyes, "You want to make others happy, I want to make others happy, so let's... let's work together, and help each other..." she took in a deep, shuddering breath, exhaling slowly and repeating the process to calm her nerves, then she reached up on her tippy-toes and met his lips with her own.

Jaune's mind nearly shut down at the warm, sweet-tasting, affection-filled contact. He took in the feeling; Ruby's lips were soft, sweet, and warm, but they held a strength in them, and he could see past the plain, unassuming surface, and into the vast ocean of emotion she held within her. Her heart was strong, he could tell that much from only a couple of seconds of exposure.

Ruby held the kiss for as long as her toes didn't hurt, she could tell that internally, Jaune was a bit of a mess, but there was also a monumental amount of emotion within him as well, and she could tell that he had a very strong sense of dedication and love.

Finally, the kiss was broken by Ruby's sore feet, and they stayed silent, staring into each other's eyes and panting slightly.

The knight was the first to break the silence, "I... I'm scared of messing something up... I... I don't want to break anyone's heart... and I... I'm scared of putting anything into risk, because I don't want any harm to come to any of you... I just..." he broke down, "It's difficult, but I'll do whatever it takes..."

"Jaune... work smarter, not harder... let me help you. I'd rather us do stuffs together and both get a little bit hurt and be only a little bit not-happy... than for you to do something alone and get hurt really badly and me to feel really not-happy... I..." she sighed, mustering up her courage, "I really like you... not just in a love way, but in a real, pure, emotional way, you're like my best friend but even more, and I don't like seeing my friends in pain, I don't like knowing that my friends are hurting, and… Jaune… I want you to know… no matter how many dates we might ever go on… no matter how many hugs or kisses we might share…. no matter how close we might get… even if we get..." she swallowed a knot of hesitance, "Even if we... might get married in the future….. I want you to know..." she looked him directly in the eyes, so directly that even their pupils were aligned, "That you are, first and foremost, my friend." there was a pause as she calmed herself again, "You're my friend... and I'm not good at making new friends…. but I make sure to always take care of the friends that I have… and I want more than anything for them to be happy and safe….. I want them to be able to live nice, peaceful, happy lives…. I want to protect my friends… I want to help my friends... and you're the closest friend I've ever had…." she buried her head into his chest, "And because of that bond of trust we share... we'll make it through anything..." her voice slowly trailed off as she clenched her eyes shut, waiting for his judgment.

Jaune stayed quiet, simply holding her close to him, "I... okay then." he slowly lifted her chin and kissed her softly and affectionately, a sense of trust and care flooding forth, and he slowly broke it, "Let's be the bestest friends in all of Remnant, and help and protect each other, and our other friends, and everyone else we can manage, let's help everyone we possibly can, and be heroes together, and make lives into wonderful adventures."

They wouldn't be romantic partners, that... that just wasn't something either of them were ready for. They would be partners in heroism, and be the absolute extremes of being best friends, their bond made of an unshakably strong trust and care.

That is what would work best for them.

They slowly disconnected their hug, both feeling swirling, storming infernos blazing inside themselves. Jaune nodded, Ruby nodded back.

Jaune donned his armor, Ruby straightened her cloak.

Jaune clasped Crocea Mors and Sanctus Mendax to his belt, Ruby attached Crescent Rose to the magnetic clip on her back.

They shared a bro-shake, and then parted ways.

* * *

Ruby felt amazing. She had gone in with a plan, but very little idea of _what_ she was actually doing.

Despite this near-blindness, she came out of the exchange with a bond she wouldn't give up for anything in the world, not even a strawberry the size of a car!

It was one of the best relationships she could have asked for. She and Jaune would be friends, but more! No awkward asking or uncertainty, or any of those things new couples do, it would be awesome! They could do what they wanted, and trust the other to say if they liked it or not. There wouldn't be any special strings holding things back or out of reach, everything would be fair game! She could work on wiggling her way even further into Jaune's heart soon enough, right now she needed to let this new bond sit for a little while.

She felt so happy that the only way she could get any happier would be to kill a hundred Grimm!

A blissful sigh escaped her lips, "I gotta celebrate this!" she smiled a wide, cheery, elated smile and walked with a skip in her step.

Killing a hundred Grimm sounded like a pretty awesome idea, anyway.

With her new goal in her mind, she sped off, formulating new strategies to ensure that her and Jaune would get a deeper connection. Ways to get those hugs and cuddles and kisses she wanted. To secure his heart for herself.

It would take time, and a lot of hard work, but it would be worth it.

She lightly coughed, an ashy stench in the air, and when she looked around, she realized that her battle instincts had led her into the Emerald forest, and she'd already slain a pack of a dozen Beowolves.

"Oh, well then... eighty eight more to go!" she spun Crescent Rose back into its storage size and sped off in search of more prey.

* * *

*CLANG*

"Nice block." Yang complimented as her fist met Sanctus Mendax.

"Mhm." Jaune replied idly, still feeling high from his talk with Ruby... was it really only fifteen minutes ago? 'I guess when she's not around, everything slows down...' he smiled lazily, slashing vertically and getting parried, after which he quickly blocked another punch.

"You okay? You seem a little out of it." her voice had quickly gained a tone of concern and care. Was something wrong with him?

"No I'm fine." the knight replied automatically as he took a quick diagonal swipe with his sword, nicking Yang on her exposed upper arm and causing a small flash of her radiant golden aura to appear, "You know I never noticed before but your aura looks very beautiful."

"W-w-what?!" the brawler responded in a bit of shock as she found herself stunned in surprise, which allowed Jaune to deliver a quick slash to her torso.

*RIP*

"It's colored like gold and shines like the sun... hehe, seems like you really ARE a sunny girl." his words came with little thought, he was in a state where he spoke honestly, but dangerously freely.

"Uh... th-thanks, it's Aura Aesthetics. They're visual effects that one's aura can take on based primarily on their semblance, but there are strong influences from your personality." she smiled softly, "My effect is Radiance, the glow of my aura is much stronger than that of a normal aura. There are also hints of the Fire effect as well."

"Hehe, well you _are_ quite radiant, Sunny." the blue-eyed youth dodged a hard bop on the head from his fellow blonde, hitting her center with another swing of his sword.

*RIP*

Lightly tanned cheeks burned bright red, "Shut up, don't act like you're drunk, Jaune."

Slow chuckles were the response she got, "Ah'm~... naht~... druhnk~..." he purposefully slurred his words while stumbling forwards, "Haw DAERE yew~." he sloppily swung his sword, the attack getting redirected over Yang's head.

Yang couldn't help but giggle at the silly display, "I'll knock the alcohol outta ya!" she punched him in the gut, causing him to stumble back and gasp for breath.

Jaune blinked, his vision refocusing as he smiled at the sound of the brawler's adorable, innocent-sounding giggles. It was a sound that reminded him that the monstrous fighter standing in front of him was indeed a girl at heart. He would have to be blind to not notice how she was a girl in body, after all, it was painstakingly obvious to anyone with even the _slightest_ appreciation for beauty that Yang Xiao Long was an incredible specimen of the fairer sex.

He started at the top, throwing lazy swings to give himself an excuse to look at her in detail.

That magnificent waterfall of hair she had must have been forged and strung out of a hundred billion karats of pure gold. Her smooth, flawless skin had been kissed by the sun by the perfect amount. Her lilac eyes blazed with a mixture that told anyone who looked into them that she was an fun-loving, playful, energetic, and vigorous youth with the life of a dozen women inside her sharp mind and her beautiful, kind, amazing heart...

"Radiance is one of the rarest three, the other two being Strokes and Strings." Yang continued after the sloppy assault was getting too boring.

"Well you're a pretty rare, special girl, so I guess it's accurate." he smiled his charming smile at her, making her blush an intense fuchsia.

Her blush only added to her beauty, and the smile she wore was just one of many smiles, each of them precious. She could be adorable, beautiful, friendly, inviting, warm, reassuring, comforting to even the , teasing, worth a million lien, brighten an entire kingdom, and _more..._ all by curling her lips up.

"What is _with_ you, tonight, are you trying to hit on me?" she asked suddenly and slightly incredulously.

"Uh... er... uh... no. No I am not, I'm just feeling kinda... absentminded I guess. I don't think I can control what I'm saying and that scares me because I'm afraid I might say something that's gonna make you mad and then you'll punch me through a wall like the first time but then I guess that led to us being better friends and I've felt _really_ lucky about that because your friendship has been helping me out a lot and my whole life has improved a hundred fold since I came to Beacon and I gotta say that maybe thirty or forty of those folds have been from you so yeah-" his aura flared as it took in air to feed his lungs as he spoke everything in one go, all the while he gazed at her body with a nearly reverent glint in his eyes, "-I can't really thank you enough because you've been an amazing help so far and I know you're a helluva lot smarter than people give you credit for and maybe if you knew anything else that could help me become stronger more efficiently then please tell me because I trust you and I know you wouldn't lie to me or let me down because you're a good person like that."

He felt lightheaded as he breathed deeply, his inexperience with Aura Absorption leading it to fail to feed his hungry lungs, thus leaving him winded. His eyes glided over her body, drinking in her form. The slope of her neck was deceivingly delicate, her shoulders were impossible to see under her puffy jacket sleeves. He couldn't deny that Yang had breasts to kill for, they were large and well-defined, definitely the largest among those of the RWBYJNPR group. Her stomach was flat and toned to perfection, he could even see the faint definition of a six-pack. Her hips were wide, her legs went on for days, and lord bless dat glorious ass.

Those beautiful lips moved and he found his ears again, "-erson that I'll give you a free hit. Make it count, or I'm knocking you across the arena."

The knight nodded dumbly, then went in for a wide horizontal swing.

*RIP*

*flutter flutter*

It had been a simple plan, deliver a strong swing and hope it counted. It was too bad that today was Handicap Day, and their handicaps?

Jaune wasn't allowed to wear his armor.

Yang had to fight with her leather clothes undone.

This meant her boots were untied, her asscape had fallen off halfway through the fight, and her jacket was open.

And now her shirt had been sliced apart by the combination of all the attacks his sword managed to get on her.

They both blushed redder than a pair of blood-soaked firetrucks.

"Did... you... just..." Yang blushed even harder when felt a slight draft on her now exposed chest.

Jaune panicked, because he _did,_ "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry here!" he quickly unzipped and removed his hoodie, then quickly put it on her and zipped it up.

The shorter blonde blushed even harder, feeling like any more and her cheeks would catch fire, _'Oh god why is this so nice? Calm down Yang just calm down. Think! Okay... I'm wearing his hoodie... it's very soft and comfortable. And now I can see all of his arms! Damn those look good, I'm really glad I helped him get like that... no wait think Yang think how do I fix this?'_

Meanwhile, Jaune was internally panicking, _'Oh god! Oh god! Oh god! Oh fuck! Oh fuck! Oh fuck! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! She's gonna kill me for that! Well I lived a nice life I suppose, I even managed to get my first kiss before I died! Thank you, Rosie, you saved me a portion of the embarrassment I'm going to face when my ancestors look at me and shake their heads in disappointment that I was killed for accidentally cutting a girl's shirt off... also... DAMN... Yang's breasts have got to be at least a million leagues above any pornstar's breasts... WAIT NO STOP STOP STOP DON'T THINK ABOUT THAT YOU'LL JUST MAKE THIS WORSE!'_

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Yang finally spoke, "Uh... I could have just buttoned my jacket up." she pulled the sleeves up over the full forms of Ember Celica, then with a flick of her arms, compressed them back into bracelets.

Jaune helped her adjust the sleeves to make it more comfortable, "Uh... y-yeah, you could have..."

"Yeah..." Yang felt a small, warm feeling pool in her stomach when she felt the tall boy's strong hands adjusting the sleeves.

"Well... you're already wearing my hoodie." he pointed out, taking a step back.

"Yeah I am."

"It looks good on you, then again black looks good on everybody." he smiled, crossing his arms over his chest and nodding in approval. There was an admiring glint in his royal blue eyes, and his stance relaxed

"Hehe, it's slimming." she smiled as she copied his stance, crossed her arms under her breasts, and got an admiring glint in her own eyes.

"Not that you need it." he said sincerely, striking a soft, warm chord in Yang's heart.

"Well maybe I DO, J-man."

Jaune smiled, "Well then the J-man is willing to part with one of his hoodies."

"Really?" Yang's voice instantly gained a strong tone of giddy excitement.

"Sure. I have plenty and they're not hard to replace." his smile softened as he straightened the black garment on her, his voice lowering and softening, "Plus you pull it off better than I do."

The brawler didn't hear her companion's second statement, as she was caught up feeling like she was on a high as she snuggled into the too-large garment. She was getting through to him! She managed to take an article of his clothing! She was really close! "Hehe, well then you're not getting this back."

The knight shrugged, "Alright. I don't mind... so, do ya got any parting advice on how to get stronger more efficiently?"

Yang's cheeks quickly became stained with a mixture of red and pink as a thought crossed her mind, '_I can try this... I... I want it to be as special and as amazing as possible.'_

"Uh, Yang? Sunny? You in there?" he softly tapped a knuckle on her forehead.

Lilac eyes screwed shut as she cleared her throat, then opened, "Uh, well... Jaune this is going to sound VERY weird, but I want you to trust me, alright?"

"I trust you with my life, Sunny, whatever it is, no matter how weird, I'll do it if it will help."

_'Now or never.'_ she cleared her throat again, "So, what it is, is that you need to not... uh... y'know~." she balled one hand into a loose fist shook it up and down.

"What?"

"Don't masturbate, dude!" she blurted out suddenly, then quickly covered her mouth.

The blue-eyed boy felt like his mind was threatening to shut down. He wasn't going to say anything directly relating to... THAT... for fear of sounding like a pervert, so his tactical mind quickly came up with something else, "H-h-how will that help?"

The lilac-eyed girl stuttered her clarification, or lack thereof, "Uh... well... you see... it's..." _'Come on think of something! You can't let him know what you're planning!' _"Testosterone! The male hormone, y'know?"

"Y-yeah... what about it?" he was afraid to say more than four words at a time.

"W-well... uh... when you go for a while without, uh, y'know... THAT... it builds up in your system in a lot larger quantity than with it, and testosterone helps you gain muscle mass and muscle tone and other little things that will make you stronger." it wouldn't be far off to say that Yang's face couldn't get any redder if she tattooed her sister's name across her cheeks.

Jaune's face was in a very similar state, you could compare the deep, strong red to blood, fire, or better yet _both, _but he eventually found his voice again, "Alright... if it'll make me stronger, I'll do it... or rather NOT do it, hehehe." he chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

Yang giggled awkwardly with him, then quickly retrieved her asscape and securely fastened it to her waist.

Securing the straps to his armor, the knight felt a slight chill travel across him, and shivered, "Hoo! Kinda chilly, isn't it?"

The brawler straightened her bracelets, "I guess? I don't know, I don't feel the cold. My semblance makes me fireproof and coldproof."

"That's awesome! Well, I'll manage. Anyways, uh... thanks for the advice." he coughed once into his hand, "I better go, I gotta train with Pyrrha soon."

"OH! Right... hehe, uh, I won't keep you, then." she awkwardly rubbed her elbow, silently wishing the boy would stay.

"Thank ya kindly, Sunny, same time tomorrow?" he asked while walking backwards towards the training room door, chuckling just from feeling happy.

"Yeah sure." she replied quickly, letting her giggles flow freely from the inexplicable happy feeling that washed over her, mentally screaming at herself to tell him to stay.

"Alright, see ya later." he opened the door.

"See ya." she watched him walk away, closing the door behind him.

He was gone.

'_Shit... dammit... well at least I've set that in motion... eventually, Jaune, eventually... you WILL be mine... but until then.'_

She snuggled into the warm softness and comfort of his hoodie, a super-happy cuddly little smile forming on her face as she hugged herself. She didn't notice it, but her aura glowed around her whole body in its bright, thick light.

This would cut it for now.

* * *

"But if you dusted the powdered sugar _after_ you poured the syrup, I am sure it would work."

"Hmm... yeah I think it might! You guys are awesome!"

"Perhaps it is, ah, how you say... an acceptance of your energy, _piccolo._" Fenerion offered.

"That and Raiden usually keeps us on a fairly tight schedule, so any free time we have, we worked for it, so we might as well enjoy it, and you're a pretty enjoyable person, Nora." Evan said smoothly, smiling as he sipped at his cup of Coca Cola, "And you're not too shabby yourself, Ren bro."

"Thank you." Ren was sticking to statements less than ten words long, but even then was still semi-engaged in the conversation, though he let the others lead it while he mostly listened.

"Now that we've settled this issue of pancake enhancements... speaking of enhancements, our leader should contact us when he is finished delivering the reports." Lune pondered as he sipped at his blue raspberry Slurpee.

*WHIR-BRRIN-BRRING~... BRRIN-BRRING* came the custome ringtone Raiden had made sure they all had set on their scrolls.

The call was answered after the first two rings and the smiling face of their blonde leader, "Hey you three, all the reports are in, and your status report?"

"Conversing confectioneries." Luke stated simply.

"... I'm going to assume you finished your training and are talking with someone?" the swordsman inquired with one white-blond eyebrow raised.

"Indeed!" the knight confirmed, taking a sip of his Slurpee.

"..." Raiden just stared silently for several seconds, his unamused, inquisitive expression was enough to tell them all 'WHO, YOU DENSE MOTHERFUCKER?!'

"We are conversing with Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. After finishing our scheduled training, we found them in Vale City whilst looking for something to do aside from wander aimlessly." Luke explained

"Well, alright..." the swordsman hummed in thought, then in approval, "Good to see you're still pursuing interpersonal interaction like normal teenagers, it makes me glad that my intense training regime hasn't broken you all." his voice lowered, mumbling something like, "But I suppose aura helps that..."

"What was that, bro?" Evan piped up, his face entering the camera's view.

"Oh, nothing, just thinking you slackers need to put in more work!" he raised his clenched fist into view while slathering his tone with enough sarcasm to drown a tiger, "Hehehe~, but in all seriousness, if that's everything then I suppose I can leave you be." his hand raised to his ear, "Raiden out." and the screen blipped as the call ended.

"Hehe, he's cool, like Jaune! And he's a swordsman, like Jaune! And... wait a second." Nora's eyes narrowed for a split-second, "You three have seen Jaune and Raiden in the same room together, right?"

"Yes, Nora." Fenerion answered, "Jaune is not Raiden, that kind of thing just does not, eh~, _happen _like that."

"Oh... okay." Nora hummed with thought, "But if it _did_ happen like that, though?"

"I would give you fifty-thousand lien if Jaune somehow managed to adopt Raiden's entire fighting style."

The hammer-wielder shook the assassin's hand vigorously, "It's a deal!" she said with a cheery tone and a wide, happy smile.

Fenerion blinked, and went to reply when a hand touched his shoulder, causing his head to whip around to see Ren giving him a look that said 'Just go with it'. With a sigh, the black-haired man turned back to Nora sat atop Luke's broad shoulders and gave a small nod, "Okay."

Nora smiled even wider, and briefly the faunus-in-disguise thought her face might split in two.

Evan whistled idly, the tune being unformed and raw, made up as he went along. To his minor surprise, the others joined in, even the quiet Ren, and he smiled while continuing his made-up song.

This was his life, this was what he got out of bed every morning for; things like this. It wasn't something grandiose, complex, or even with explanation, it was just... having some good times with some good friends.

He couldn't be happier.

"The sun approaches the horizon, we should make haste to return to the academy." Luke warned, "The night may be beautiful, but it is sadly full of danger."

The others gave gestures and/or sounds of agreement, and they all picked up the pace

* * *

"AGAIN!" she shouted.

"Training limit reached. Please come back tomorrow if you wish you continue, Miss Nikos." the training room A.I. announced.

"I don't WANT to come back tomorrow, I want to train NOW." the spartan complained, Milo in sword form and held firmly behind Akuou, "Now send in another wave."

"You've been training for six hours, Miss Nikos, your aura reserves are at twenty-one percent, I am not allowed to send more bots when students are that low."

"I _order_ you to send in more drones." Pyrrha was getting antsy now, she could still remember that something about her team that was making her angry or something."

"... your authority is not recognized here, Miss Nikos. Scans have indicated that throughout your training session, your stress levels have shifted. Is something bothering you?"

"What would an A.I. know about something bothering me?"

"I have had basic counseling functions installed in recent years. Might I suggest 'sucking it up and dealing with your problems directly'? That option, while unsavory, has proven to greatly improve one's mental state far beyond how much it degrades it when performed correctly."

Pyrrha facepalmed. Why did everything have to be stacked against her? She may have been a champion but that didn't mean all of life had to shift to accommodate to her higher skill level.

Why couldn't things be easy?

"The alternative 'Whine about your problems until someone fixes them for you' option is also available, though it is strongly recommended you do not choose that path, it has proven highly socially unacceptable."

The maroon-haired Mistralite grumbled under her breath, "End training." she halfheartedly called out, and the simulated environment turned back into blank light-gray stone panels and large glass viewing windows.

As she stepped out of the training room a minute later, she was about to turn to walk to the locker room, when she happened to notice an orange splotch of color exiting another training room.

At first she thought nothing of it, but her sharp eyes spotted a mop of blonde hair and a corona of white outlining its form, as well as the iconic white sheath.

Jaune...

'_Where is his hoodie? Surely he needs it, after all-'_ the green-eyed champion's train of thought was cut off by a powerful shiver.

Not many knew it, but Pyrrha _The Invincible Girl_ Nikos _did_ have one crippling weakness.

She could not stand the cold.

In her homeland of the Southeast section of Mistral, the climate was hot, but very even. Winters hadn't hit the low sixties in over four-hundred years, while summers were always in the high and mid nineties. As a result the people grew up without the ability to stand the cold.

Despite her father, Nitas Nikos, being a military general, she had unfortunately not inherited a lot of his physical hardiness. While she did inherit his prodigal skill for combat and strong willpower, she had inherited everything else from her mother.

Her mother, Gracing Nikos, known to most as 'The Graceful Grosbeak', the top supermodel in all of Mistral, barely beating out Velma Varidine and her enchanting green tresses and blue eyes. Pyrrha got her rich-maroon hair, enticing emerald eyes, and slender, statuesque, yet voluptuous figure from her mother.

This normally wasn't something Pyrrha particularly cared about. After all, she was going to be a huntress! A defender of society against the Grimm! Looking like a supermodel got in the way of that! So she trained and trained and trained some more, and from a young age Pyrrha Nikos was mentally molded into a fighter.

Physically? Still a supermodel's daughter. Again, she _usually_ didn't care, but that was _usually._ Now?

She had to secure her leader's heart before all of the others caught on to his value as a life-partner and tried to take him!

So she found herself slightly loosening her chestpiece. She was doing this for her own sake!

If she could use what she had to trick Jaune's male mind into being attracted to her, she could win him easily! How else to do it?

A memory shot to the forefront of her mind, _'Jaune sighed disappointedly, "Where am I gonna find another cute, quirky girl to talk to?" and a second later, he walked off to lose himself in the crowd.'_

She could act the part, perhaps! She hoped so.

Jaune approached with a smile as the glow of his aura dissipated, "Hey Pyrrha, surprised to see you here... wait you didn't move our training session tonight up, did you? I'm sorry if I didn't get your message, I was still training with Yang, y'know. I gotta get stronger." he flexed his muscular arm, giving Pyrrha quite a pleasant sight.

"Uh, n-no, Jaune, I didn't... I~ was... actually training too!" she said in a slightly cheerful voice, briefly standing on her tippy toes before settling back down.

Jaune chuckled lightly and smiled a little, gently brushing a hair through her ponytail, "I could kinda tell but I wasn't sure... you REALLY need to pay more attention to how your hair gets." he said with another chuckle and a warmer, wider smile, "Hair like yours needs to be kept nice and neat, it's... p-prettier that way." he stuttered slightly in embarrassment as he took in Pyrrha's soft, relaxed smile, "Uh... d-do you like it when I straighten your hair like this?"

"Yes... the motion feels very relaxing." true to her words, Pyrrha felt her tension slowly dissolve as Jaune brushed his hand through her hair again and again.

The knight smiled back, making such a beautiful girl smile like that was an accomplishment _any_ man would be proud of.

The spear-woman stood there, smiling and humming softly and happily, "... Jaune?" she had an idea.

"Y-yes, Pyrrha?"

"I'm cold." as if to emphasize her point, she shivered, her ponytail also seeming to shiver from the motion, which Jaune found kinda cute.

"Well, Yang stole my hoodie." Pyrrha internally cursed her fellow ace-fighter, swearing revenge- "But..." but what? "But you can hold onto me if you're feeling cold."

Pyrrha's mental swear of revenge was instantly repealed in favor of a mental swear to pay the brawler back somehow. Smiling, she wrapped her arms around Jaune's muscular frame, letting out a few little giggles from the overwhelming happiness she felt.

Jaune stiffened slightly, then relaxed. Out of all the laughs he'd heard, Ruby's adorable cherub-like call, Weiss' calm cool and relaxing powder snow symphony, Blake's sweet and free-flowing honey-milk drink, Yang's surprising cute and innocent little fairy song, Nora's cheery and near-boisterous energetic melody, even Neo's soft salt-on-snow refreshing syrup, Pyrrha's laugh was a cut above the rest.

Those few little giggles sounded like the beautiful, life-filled giggles of an angel.

The knight felt a strong, roaring, blazing inferno inside himself. He swore he would do whatever it took to make sure that all of these girls were always happy enough to smile and laugh at any time.

He realized that would most-likely mean finding boyfriends for a good few of them. Lucky for him, he knew four good guys already, mentally counting out Luke because he seemed to be married to his job, and all of team CRDL for a blindingly obvious reason.

He said 'good', simple as that.

So that left Ren, Raiden, Evan, and Fenerion.

Ren was quiet and collected, but also strong of heart and will, he could make Blake happy if Nora wouldn't take him.

Raiden seemed like a guardian type of person, he'd fit well with Ruby.

Evan was energetic, but also chilled out and laid back, Yang would be a good choice.

Fenerion was calm and calculative, but also generous and he seemed, much like Ren, of strong heart and will, he would go well with Pyrrha.

Pyrrha...

Jaune would be lying if he said he never thought of Pyrrha like 'that', whatever 'that' was.

But that was the thing, he found his thoughts often drifted away from whatever subject was at hand to think of the girls. Even his dreams last night had consisted of a collage of images of him holding hands with, kiss, hugging, and various other sweet little things with _all_ of the girls, even (to his now-gone dismay) Nora and (to his slight surprise) Neo.

Walking with his partner hugging him from the side, he found they had reached their dorm during his mental planning session. He looked in his pocket and realized he had left his scroll in the room.

"Uh, hey Pyr, you have your scroll, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"I forgot mine inside."

Pyrrha giggled, "Jaune, you're hopeless." her tone was playful and slightly affable. She pulled her scroll from the pouch on her side and waved it in front of the electronic lock, hearing a *click* of the door opening as Jaune turned the knob.

Entering the empty room, Pyrrha smiled as she continued her plan. JNPR regularly rearranged the room. The current setup had Jaune and Pyrrha on one side, Nora and Ren on the other. Getting used to change was something Jaune had insisted was important, as it would somewhat help promote their adaptability in combat. If they could get used to their own living quarters changing once a week, then they would be a bit more capable in changing plans on the fly.

The knight removed his armor and stretched, unknowingly giving his spartan partner a very nice show as he removed his shirt in under two seconds, grabbing the left sleeve and pulling his arm through it while also pulling the shirt overhead and sliding it off his right arm.

The emerald-eyed girl NEEDED to do something.

Jaune sat facing the wall as he changed out of his sweaty socks, smiling a little bit. All things considered, from that battle with Yang, he could tell he'd been getting a LOT better at blocking. His attack skills could use a lot of work considering the best he'd gotten out of using his sword was slashing at an Ursa Major and decapitating it, which is something Neo had revealed to him that a fully-powered Huntsman would be able to do _by drunken accident._

The thing is, _that had happened before. Someone had actually done that_. He wanted to be at that level, but it would take a LOT of work. He put on a new shirt and hoodie, new socks, retied his sneakers, and stood up.

There was a small, soft thump, followed by Pyrrha letting out a somewhat surprised "Oh~!" which made Jaune whip around to see what was wrong.

Pyrrha smiled a bit when she felt Jaune's gaze on her, or more specifically, her now mostly-exposed rear and black lace panties.

Her miniskirt and twirly asscape had 'accidentally' fallen down when she bent over to pick up the sweater she'd 'dropped' after she grabbed it from her and Jaune's shared closet.

The blonde in question was having a very difficult time trying to look away from the glory in front of him: Smooth, lightly tanned, perfect cheeks... black lacy panties... Jaune had the brief thought that Pyrrha's ass was a million leagues above that of any pornstar.

_'NO DAMMIT STOP THINKING ABOUT THAT! Oh god it's REALLY awkward now that I'm gonna be doing that no masturbation thing I mean WHY DID THIS ALSO HAVE TO HAPPEN ON THE SAME DAY AS THAT? AND OH GOD NOW I JUST REMEMBER YANG'S "perkiness" and I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE ABORT ABORT ABORT!' _he stood up, turned towards the door, and started walking out, "SorryPyrI'lljustgonowokayseeyouontheroofbythewayuhyou'rereallyniceGAHWHYDIDISAYTHATokayI'mjustgonnagonowBYE!" he sputtered quickly and with hardly a pause, blushing redder than his partner's hair, the same partner who had a fantastic, FANTASTIC a-

He burst into a sprint to the stairwell, climbing the steps with extreme haste as he burst out the door and into the nighttime air.

He sat on the lone bench up on this particular rooftop, then put his head in his hands as he let out a distressed whining sound.

"Why do I have to like cute girls and long-haired girls? And WHY do my two physical trainers have to be so damn sexy? It's just not fair!" his shoulders slumped as he dropped his hands, staring at the smooth stone of the roof, "Because neither of them would ever love a loser like me, a loser who has to rely on." his hand glowed white, "His massive aura reserves just to stand a chance in a fight. And I can still hardly use my aura to the extent the others can!"

"WOW... good thing I did that Grimm Studies 101 report for you... by the why I did your Grimm Studies 101 report for you, Port was pleased and you got an A+." a familiar, slightly affable voice spoke.

"Raiden." Jaune stated simply, turning to the man.

"Jaune." Raiden replied just as simply, walking up to his fellow swordsman with the metal soles of his high-heels clacking on the stone rooftop, "I can help you see your own hardiness."

"How is that?" the knight asked, standing up as the suited man approached him.

He felt two hands on him.

* * *

_A few seconds later._

Jaune contemplated the possibility that life was conspiring against him.

Or maybe Raiden was serious in some degree and and throwing Jaune clear across the campus, shortly followed by the offending swordsman tackling him in midair and delivering six rapid kicks to his chestplate and half-covered stomach before grabbing him by the neck as they fell into the Everfree forest, broke through about four trees, knocked over the fifth, and Jaune was picked up, dusted off, then had his legs easily swiped out from under him.

This happened over the course of maybe twenty seconds.

"And according to your scroll, your aura reserves are still at 10% after all that, and your second aura seems to be draining itself quite rapidly as your vitals and senses recover quickly and it just slowed down a little bit, and-" the shorter blonde was cut off by a swift, very powerful punch to the face, "-I deserved that..." he spat out a bit of blood.

"WERE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME YOU GODDAMN FOOL?"

"No?"

"THEN I RECKON YA BETTER START 'SPLAININ' OR I'M GONNA BEAT THE BLONDE OUTTA YER HAIR AND STICK CROCEA MORS WHERE THE SUN DON'T SHINE!" white aura flared brightly as Jaune let loose with son his hometown's phrases, a swirling mass of variously sized streams of light.

"Okay... before you 'fly off the handle', you're still unhurt, you realize."

"NO THANKS TA YOU!"

"I was just giving you an example. Calm down and listen to my intelligence."

The white light receded but the Arc heir remained tense and ready to shove his sword through his friend.

"Imagine Aura like photons, made of little particles of light, except more like... a material form of light, the light of the soul, 'positivity', as abstract of a concept as that is." the suited man smiled slightly as his hoodie-wearing companion calmed down visibly.

"Yes, positivity, but aura can also be increased by training, at least that's what... my dad said." the lie was small and smooth.

"Right, well that's true in a way, though the gains in the actual amount are exaggerated because of what aura training _actually_ does."

One blonde eyebrow quirked in confused, "And what does aura training '_actually'_ do?" he put airquotes around 'actually', curious now.

"Just like physical training, aura training can improve one's aura like a muscle. Like normal muscles, to get to greater levels requires more intense training. However they do not deteriorate like muscles do when they go unused, they simply... stagnate, waiting to be used. Semblances add another layer to it. Someone could have a very useful, but very expensive semblance, however some dozens of repetitions of training it can reduce how much it costs them aura-wise. Now I'm not an expert, hell I'm lucky I know THIS much, because my aura is kind of... different in a way. I suggest for more details, ask Professor Goodwitch, she teaches the Aura Usage and Manipulation class."

The knight mentally recorded the key bits of his friend's explanation, then nodded, "So... now what?"

"Hop on my back and I'll sprint us back to the academy." the shorter man turned and squatted slightly pointing a thumb at his back.

"Why should I trust you? It's because of you that we're not in the academy in the first place!" despite his words, Jaune found himself sheathing his sword and climbing onto his friend's back.

He may have just risked both of their lives, he may have acted like an asshole for a few seconds there, but he was a friend, and friendship, as his talk with Ruby clarified to him, was important. This was the reason Jaune was now getting a piggyback ride from his suit-wearing fellow-leader.

"Because I only did that to prove a point and you're still alive and well, man. Besides, if I wanted to kill you I'd just cut your head off." he laughed, but Jaune could feel the strange sheathe on his stomach. If his friend truly wanted to kill him, he could do so here, and how could Jaune stop him?

By being his friend, he realized.

Friendship may have seemed like a concept for fools, but it's what allowed people to survive. The lone wolf cannot handle everything and will die the first time something out of its skill range happens.

Friendship was powerful, more powerful than any blade or bullet, and Jaune knew, in those moments, that friendship would allow him to become the great huntsman he was destined to be.

_'Aaaaahhhhh~! Finally, you've realized.'_

'J-j-jacques?'

_'In the spirit, boy. Congratulations, you've overcome one of the many, MANY limits of our blessing.'_

'H-how?'

_'By recognizing the inexplicable power of friendship and camaraderie, you've eliminated the wait time for us to assist you mentally... well MOSTLY... it will be one day rather than ten days. We're not allowed to tell you how to fix what we know, but I _can_ tell you that your position in life is unique as thus far of the blessed Arcs, and you have the potential to take the powers of our blessing to new limits.'_

'That sounds... awfully conveniently inconvenient.'

_'It's the rules of the deities, boy, it's not supposed to just let you fly around and shoot lasers from your eyes.'_

'That... would be _really cool, _though.'

_'... yeah, yeah it would be.'_ Jaune could feel the smile his ancestor had on his face, and that made him smile too.

"So where do you want me to drop you off at?" Raiden asked as he ran straight up the cliff Beacon rested upon, his legs charged with strong arcs of aura-created lightning.

"Uh... back on the rooftop? How long have we been gone, actually?"

"About three minutes."

"Alright, yeah, back on the rooftop."

"Okay then."

"So... a little WARNING next time you fling me half a mile through the air and some trees?"

"Didn't you get knocked through ten feet of concrete, an energy barrier, and a city block's distance past that?"

"Well yeah but I expected something like that because I accidentally damaged some of Yang's precious hair." the way he said those last two words, there was a sincerity in them, as he actually did think Yang's hair was precious. It was beautiful and radiant and golden and special, just like her.

"-ferent how exactly?" oh shit he'd gone off thinking about one of this girls. _Again._

"Uh... you gave no warning."

"Yeah I did, I said 'I can help you see your own hardiness.' first."

"And I asked 'How is that?' after, to which you should have responded with words, not throwing me."

"Sorry, I probably should have said something after that, thinking back on it."

"Yeah, ya should have."

"Well sorry, I was just expecting to grind your spine along the ground, but sometimes I forget my own strength."

"How ARE you so strong, anyways? I swear that was ten times more strength than Yang's ever applied."

"Yang purposefully doesn't use her semblance in order to avoid hurting you like she did. You should probably reassure her that you're not mad... unless you still are?"

"No, no I'm not mad, I was never mad, I actually felt I deserved what happened because I betrayed her trust, something I'd never want to do to her, or Pyrrha, or Ruby... or Weiss... or Blake... or Nora... or Ren... or you... or... well... everyone I know, really."

"You've a lot of dedication and heart, tovarich." Raiden smiled back at his passenger.

"Tova-what-now?"

"Tovarich."

"... speak English."

"Comrade, friend, colleague, ally, buddy, etc. etc., need I go on?" Raiden once again glanced back at his passenger.

"No I think I _proooo_bably get it now." Jaune answered with a chuckle.

The two blond swordsmen laughed as the suit-wearing one jumped up to the top of the dorm building, setting the hoodie-wearing one down, "Alright, you ever need me, no matter what time or place, I'm there, tovarich."

"Rrright~... uh... th-thanks man." the knight didn't know what to say, really. He was usually the one to offer the 'any time, any place' help, not receive it.

"It's no problem, I have way too much free time on my hands as it is. See ya later." the swordsman waved goodbye as he leaped off to... somewhere else.

On the rooftop, not one soul other than his own two were in sight.

For now... Jaune was alone.

* * *

**god my chapters just do NOT want to end**

**this one is legitimately almost 14k words**

**That's CRAAAAAZY~**

**Like I said at the beginning of the chapter, it'll be within the next 10 chapters maybe, IDK, but I'm going to up the rating from T to M for lemon reasons.**

**For now... I hope you enjoyed the chapter**

**I hope you fave, follow, and review (I love reviews, people, ^w^)**

**And see you next time**

**Next Up: Stray Thoughts and Checkered Dreams.**


	9. Stray Thoughts and Checkered Dreams p1

**I hoped really hard to get this out in a week, and my dreams were crushed.**

**Maybe next time, who knows?**

**Anyways I gave my warnings last chapter and here is THIS chapter.**

**Speaking of dreams, let's get to the chapter.**

**Plot arc YAAAAAY~! ^w^**

**RWBY belongs to RoosterTeeth**

**Chapter 9: Stray Thoughts and Checkered Dreams, pt1/3**

* * *

Blue eyes gazed at the crescent phase of the moon. His lips curled up into a smile. Things were looking up.

After a rather strange training session from Pyrrha, who had seemed to be far, FAR off her usual A-game, he was alone with his thoughts.

'Well that training session was odd... I mean, the thing that made the most sense was that Pyrrha was wearing a sweater under her armor... then again she _did_ say that she gets cold...'

_'... right, well I'm going to think of the best ways to teach you better aura control so you can develop better aura structure.'_

'Okay, Jacques, you're the legendary warrior here, and I'm just the legend-in-the-slow-making.'

He thought about it from the most logical standpoint he could. Pyrrha's skirt had slipped down, twice! TWICE! THAT was embarrassing for the both of them, mostly Jaune (though the fact Pyrrha had only pretended to be embarrassed was unknown to him). At some point her shoes slipped off, revealing her surprisingly beautiful little feet, what was she, a size six?

Then again, girls had smaller feet than boys, so it made sense. Still, her feet looked as nice as he'd imagined them.

The strangest thing out of all of what happened, though?

He won the match.

He _won_ the match.

He _never _won their training matches before, he just gradually took longer to get laid out flat on his back.

He felt a slight high of elation flowing through his veins. He felt like he could do anything!

So... why not?

'Hey Jacques do I have enough aura to survive a ten-story drop?'

_'Luckily with your aura regenerating as much as it did during the match since you were barely hit, you have far more than enough.'_

'Awesome.' he hopped off the building, his aura flowing into his legs. Suddenly the white light flashed brightly, then ceased after he stood up, now safely on the ground.

Grinning widely, Jaune ran.

* * *

"Mister Arc, a surprise to see you here." Glynda half-smiled-half-frowned. She was grading some papers in her Aura Usage and Manipulation classroom. Since a lot of students chose to actively avoid the classrooms on the weekend unless for important matters, she was usually guaranteed a few hours of silence.

"I come bearing tea and a call for assistance." Jaune said in a slightly mocked formal tone, carrying a tray with two steaming cups of tea, as well as a teapot with small wisps of steam leaking out of the spout.

One fine eyebrow raised in surprise, "I'm surprise you'd come forward, honestly." and the neon-green eye below it fixated on the two cups.

"Initiative is a strong trait, Miss Glyn, one you should KNOW I have." pulling up a chair, the Arc heir sat down in front of the older woman's desk

"Well for a young boy like you, that trait is oft confused for being a nuisance." she took a sip of the tea, smiling. Jasmine, with one sugar, one step away from being her favori-.

*pop'a pop, crackle-POP* pop rock candy...

"You know me too well, Little Jay." it was something only those closest to her knew about, but Glynda Goodwitch _loved_ pop rock candy.

"Well it's just such a shocking thing that it's hard to forget, even after~... what, four years since you've been my babysitter?"

"Well you had started at Campfire that year and I had my _own_ classes to manage."

THAT was a thing nobody currently at Beacon knew about aside from Ozpin. From ages seven to thirteen, Jaune Arc, as well as his adopted sister Alisakura Ganyanter

"Ah, right... well thanks for bringing THAT up, I had almost full repressed that time."

"Bad experience, Jay?"

"Imagine getting bullied at Beacon, but ten times more... I think I could count the spots in that place that I DIDN'T get beaten with just one hand." he thought on it. Those places were all offices. Yes, he'd even been bullied _inside office rooms._

Among the outrageous locations in which he'd been hit, he'd received blows in the classrooms, lockers, and even so far as the bullies pushing him into the girls' bathroom to deliver a couple of wallops and leave.

Luckily he hadn't been caught in there and no rumors had started.

Glynda's aura flared slightly with repressed anger. Jaune noticed that it had a subtle white-washed purple color, its aesthetic effect resembling a faintly glowing gas, "Let me guess, your buffoon of a father told you to 'man up and kick ass'?" she put air-quotes around each word and pulled off a surprisingly good male voice.

The Arc heir stifled a laugh. Hearing the normally composed huntress quote his father like that was hilarious, "Exactly, ya hit the nail on the head there."

"Speaking of _there_, will you be going home for Christmas?"

"Of course, I gotta beat the shit outta my old man for being a bastard... right after I hug him after not seeing him in so long."

"Such a good son." Glynda giggled a little bit, her cheeks slightly flushed from the heat of the delicious drink.

"Such a good role model, especially with you threatening to collapse a ring of force around my father's neck and mount his severed head on a pike that uses his spine for a head..." the knight reminisced before taking another swig of his tea.

"Your father can be a great nuisance, Little Jay."

"You _know_ I'm not little anymore, right?"

"That is yet to be seen." the mage's eyes flickered with mirth as she took another sip from her cup, giggling from both the boy's slightly funny indignant look and from the pop rocks fizzling in her mouth.

Jaune stood up tall, "I will _not_ have my honor sullied by your disregarding claims, Badwitch." his royal-blue eyes narrowed.

Neon-green eyes stared into his, "Prepare to be proven small, Little Jay." Glynda stood up as well.

The knight stood six-foot-four.

The mage stood six-foot-five, a wide, smug smirk on her face, "Well, it seems you're still Littl-"

"Take your heels off." the gentle, but firm command came as Jaune got an even wider and more smug smirk on his face.

Glynda blushed a bit, then removed her heels.

Six-foot-three.

"Well it looks like YOU'RE the little one now, Glyn." the blue-eyed youth chuckled jokingly, feeling satisfied with himself.

"Your laugh has improved a lot." the green-eyed elder said as she blushed slightly more.

Jaune chuckled a little louder, unknowingly smiling his charming smile at the professor, "Well, that's good I guess. Speaking of 'improve', your birthday is coming up in a couple of months, right?"

"December fifteenth, and yours is November twentieth, correct?"

"Exactly, I'll finally be eighteen and legally an adult, and you'll be... what, thirty eight?"

"Forty four."

"WHAT~?" Jaune was a bit surprised, "You CERTAINLY don't look like you're gonna be forty four."

"Well I will be." the professor blushed a bit. The boy's kind sincerity got to her.

"I don't believe you, if I didn't know you were old enough to be my babysitter when I was seven, I would think you weren't even thirty yet." his words, once again, had a gentle sincerity to them, and they struck a few cords in the older woman's heart.

"Hehehe, you're quite the flatterer, Big Jay." Glynda blushed while taking another sip of her tea.

"Hehe, well I just say it like I see it, Miss Glyn."

Her pen clicked as she graded another paper, "Well, young man, what has brought you here tonight? I doubt you knew I was grading these papers tonight, so I don't think it's to know the score you received." she giggled a bit, "Despite your words, I _also_ doubt you came here to seduce me."

Jaune did a spit-take, his eyes wider than dinnerplates. He looks at the huntress and couldn't keep his eyes from bouncing all over the place.

The years had been exceptionally kind to her, that much was obvious. He hadn't lied when he said that she looked young, but closer examination revealed hints of aging, all of which were graceful.

He had to admit, he hadn't thought much of finding a woman of the... _mature_ variety, but now?

'Dammit eyes, stop! STOP STOP STOP!'

_'You came here to ask for assistance in aura training, did you not?'_

'Yes!'

_'Well get to the point!'_

"Do you _want_ me to seduce you? Because I came here seeking your mind, not your body." he said firmly, "I didn't seek you out to act like an amoral hound, I wanted your help."

Glynda felt her face heat up incredibly, turning pink all over. She had to admit, she didn't expect that response, but maybe she _should_ have. She knew, better than anyone else perhaps, that the Arc heir was dedicated to his goal of becoming a hero. Sadly this left little room for love, but hopefully someone would find him worth the effort of breaking him out of his shell.

"What help would that be?" she inquired with curiosity coloring her words.

"Well... you're the Aura Usage and Manipulation instructor, right?"

"Yes I am."

"Well." his hands glowed white, "I'd like some tutoring." the white aura coalesced into a large ball, which then flickered and burst into nothing. He pouted slightly, looking at her with a saddened gaze.

Of course that little demonstration was just for show, he knew he couldn't keep something like that up for very long, but he needed to show it.

She pushed her glasses up her nose, smiling slightly, "Well, I can help you with that, Jaune."

"Thank you, Miss Glyn."

"_Please_ Jaune, you're an adult now, you can call me Glynda."

This made the knight pause, "I'm still only seventeen, Professor."

The mage sighed, "Terms and Conditions, of COURSE you didn't read them, nobody ever does..." she cleared her throat, then recited "Condition 18: Accepted Beacon Academy applicants, regardless of whether or not they pass the initiation, are granted legal emancipation and are thus legally recognized as adults in all districts of law. This condition is recognized across all kingdoms and applies to all students." she took in a breath, then smiled, "So you are an adult, Jaune, legally at least."

'...'

'_Don't look at me, I didn't live to see the academy open... though I _did_ see it under construction.'_

'... If was she said is true... then-'

_'Then you and the other girls are all able to be consenting adults.'_

'This... this changes little.'

_'Really? I swear, I should tell Jack to take over and get you laid.'_

'You do that and I kill you both. I refuse to be a hound or a pervert, these girls are precious to me, which is why I want to see them happy, which is why I'll find people to love them... hm~... I just had a thought.'

'_You've had several... but still, what?'_

'What if Weiss and Blake were... so inclined to be with... each other?'

_'Lesbianism. You are suggesting lesbianism, Jaune. You _do_ realize this, correct?'_

'I know what I'm suggesting! I don't know, okay? I just want them all to be happy, and when they're all happy, then I can keep fighting the good fight against evil and working to save all people, every single one that I can.'

_'Even the lost, the broken, and the damned?'_

'_Especially_ the lost, the broken, and the damned! If being a big brother to seven of most odd and sometimes sweet, sometimes annoying sisters in the world has taught me _anything_, it's that everyone deserves a second chance, Jacques!'

'_Even someone like Roman Torchwick?'_

'YES! Hell, if I knew how, I would find a way to give you you're own body so you can enjoy life again! Wouldn't you like to be alive again?'

'_... *sniffle*'_

'You're crying again.'

_'It shows that I care, Jaune! Yes I would want to be alive again, but I can't be alive except through your body! The blessing doesn't give me that choice! And whether you want to or not, when you defeat any of us in the mental battle for control over our aura and semblance, then you'll also be killing our consciousnesses until your son is born and has unlocked his aura and released the blessing via near total aura expenditure.'_

'That... that makes me hesitant, Jacques. I want all of _you_ to be able to be happily alive again too! I want to help you!'

_'You want to help everyone you can?'_

'YES!'

'_Well... you cannot help us. Not through any sort of means can we escape your being without killing_ your_ consciousness, except by the birth of your grandson.'_

Jaune blinked when he felt the familiar calming sensation of Glynda running her hands through his hair while lightly rubbing his scalp. He hummed as a sense of peace flowed through him.

'Alright, fine. I don't like it, but if I truly cannot help you, if you're truly meant purely for the purpose of making me stronger, then I will accept your help.'

_'Thank you, Jaune. OH! Also, by fully and wholly accepting our help, you've ALSO unlocked part of the blessing that allows us to use your aura while we're in control.'_

'That's... alright then.'

"It's a pleasure to know that this still works." Glynda said with a smile as the boy hummed calmly.

"Well it still feels nice, Glynda." the knight slowly sat down, a smile spreading across his face.

A feeling of nostalgia entered the woman's mind. Memories of days past, of the cheerful voice of a juvenile Jaune Arc and his adopted sister Kira as she watched over them with firm, but fair ruling. She wouldn't take _full_ credit for blessing Jaune with his strong sense of discipline, as she knew from experience with his father that it was an Arc family trait, to have a strong willpower and discipline, but she had certainly _helped him along_ in that regard.

The two remained that way for some time, Jaune softly humming as he felt peace and relaxation flow through him, Glynda softly smiling as she lightly massaged his scalp and straightened his usually messy hair.

"You should invest in a comb, Jaune."

"You've said that for years, Glynda."

"Because you still haven't done it! I swear stubbornness is definitely an Arc trait."

"Well I'm sure one's composure shattering the second they see or hear something they like is definitely a Goodwitch trait." Jaune chuckled lightly and softly as he took another sip of tea.

The door creaked heavily as it opened, "Oh, s-sorry about that, Professo-uuuuuhhhhhhhhhh~..." both blondes turned to the source of the voice.

Standing there was Velvet, her fluffy brown rabbit ears sticking straight up as she took in the sight in front of her.

The bespectacled woman pushed said spectacles up on her nose, "Miss Scarlatina, what brings you to my classroom so late?"

"Report." the faunus replied dumbly, holding up the carefully stapled papers, "What brought _you_ here, Jaune?"

"Well, Velv, lemme tell ya." he pointed his thumb back at his former babysitter, "Goodwitch here ain't so good." he was swatted on the back of his head, but kept going, "She can hardly tell the difference between tutoring and seduction." he was swatted twice, but stayed strong, "Though I suppose if she was tutorin' ya on how to be seductive, I gue-" he was cut off as a surprisingly hard smack that nearly made him bite his tongue.

"That is **enough** Mister Arc." she turned to the second-year with slightly red cheeks, "Miss Scarlatina, thank you for handing in your report. Three days early, as always." he held her hand out to take the report.

The younger woman nodded, her face red from embarrassment, "Uh... y-y-y-yes." she quickly put the papers in the older woman's hand and turned, exiting the classroom and running off down the hall.

"Now then... **what** were you thinking, Jaune? Who taught you to speak like that? Was it your foolish father?"

"Now Glynda." Jaune stood up, his blue aura glowing around his head as the pain from her swats was alleviated, "The girl who taught me that weren't no fool." he stretched his arms and rolled his shoulders, "But iffin' yer curious." he found it hard to control his voice at the moment, "It was my dear friend Yang. That girl's gotta mouth on her, I tell ya... still, gotta love her go-gettin' attitude and strong, caring personality."

Neon eyes widened slightly, "You speak of her as though you wish for the two of you to be more than simply friends."

"That'd be the best thing in the world, ta have her for mah own." he mused, "Or Weiss, or Blake, or Pyrrha, or Nora, or heck even someone nice and cute like ol' Velvet." he shrugged, "I'd feel like the luckiest guy in the world ta have any one of 'em." there it was, that sweet sincerity in his tone.

He meant every word.

Glynda blinked, seeing a mature edge to Jaune's features that she couldn't help but be enraptured by.

"Anyways, can we do these lessons on Mondays? I'm trying to gather a group of tutors I'll be learning from every day of the week. Mondays I would have you, Tuesdays would be someone else, Wednesdays someone else, and so on." he smiled invitingly, and the mage nodded in agreement, "Excellent! Thanks, Glynda." he gave her a pat on the shoulder and a brief hug, "I should be getting back to my dorm, I got class tomorrow, y'know?"

The blonde woman nodded dumbly, and the knight left. When his air of comfort, warmth, and charisma had dissipated from his absence, she sat down behind her desk again and resumed her work.

*sip*

*crackle cra-crackle pop*

She hummed in delight, she _did_ still love pop rocks.

* * *

"WHY IN THE SAM HELL DO YOU HAVE GODDAMN TURRETS?" Jaune shouted as he ran from the hail of gunfire.

"WHY IN THE SAM HELL AREN'T YOU DEFLECTING THE SHOTS AND TAKING THE TURRETS OUT?"

"I CAN'T SWING MY SWORD THAT FAST!"

This made Raiden pause. No literally, he paused the turrets' firing and took a few seconds to think.

Oh...

Right...

Jaune was still kinda weak with swordplay.

Well he would fix that, one Tuesday at a time.

Landing with a loud BOOM, he drew his sword, "Alright, we'll start from the bottom and work our way to the top, then." he twirled his sword in his hand as his student-now-opponent slowly approached.

"You're not gonna switch the turrets back on, are ya?" the knight asked nervously, glancing at the smoking barrels of the four machine guns still aimed at

"No, they're a nuisance. Plus I have to return them to the academy and while I have little in the way of things to spend money on, I would prefer to save that money."

"You weren't going to damage them, were you?"

"No, but I have to pay for bullets, which is part of why I use a sword." he lazily spun his sword in his hand, tapping the ground, "The other reason is that there is honor in a blade."

Jaune paused, "Honor in a blade... what is that honor, specifically?"

Pale blue eyes clenched shut for a few seconds, then slowly opened, "You know, it's possible to feel someone's pulse through a knife pressed against their neck." he pressed the back of his sword against his own neck, which made his grip quiver slightly, "You see, anyone can point a gun at a person and pull a trigger, but a blade requires skill to wield." he gave a few swings, "The honor of a blade is in that it takes heart to use it. You have to get up close and personal with your enemies, putting yourself at risk as well, and being able to put your whole body, rather than just your eyes and hands, into a fight."

_'This is true.' _Jacques said quietly, _'Putting the entirety of your being into a fight shows your dedication, in a way.'_

"Interesting." Jaune tapped the tip of his sword against the floor.

"Now then... show me what your blade can do!" with that, Raiden charged with his sword in a reverse grip, swinging hard at Jaune's sword side.

The knight nearly jumped back in fright. His opponent was fast! He raised his sword just in time to have it knocked from his hand by the immense strength behind Raiden's swing.

*KACHUNK* Crocea Mors embedded itself over a foot deep into the dirt ground.

"Oho! What will you do without your sword?"

Jaune quickly blocked the next strike with his shield and scrambled over to his fallen sword, ripping it out of the ground with a single pull and casting dirt at Raiden's face.

He covered his eyes quickly, but the dirt had already slipped past his guard and a bit into his eye, "GAH! Son of a BI-" that wasn't something the suited man expected, and he paid for it with a powerful slash across his chest from his student, "OW!" pain flared up across his chest.

"I didn't hurt you too bad, did I?" the Arc heir felt instantly worried about his friend.

"No... I..." he groaned, "I actually kinda liked it..." he internally cursed himself, he had already satisfied his urges! Why were they coming back?

This made Jaune pause. He stood there, arms at his sides, simply looking at his trainer with his eyes saying 'What the fuck?'

Raiden shook his head hard, clearing the thoughts, "Enough, back to the fight." he swung hard three times.

Fortunately, Jaune was prepared this time, and kept his grip on his sword despite the tremendous force being thrown at him.

_'Use the greatsword form!'_

'That was where I channel my aura into it, right?'

_'Yes! Luckily Glynda went over that yesterday.'_

Jaune smiled, "Hey, give me a few seconds." he compressed his Sanctus Mendax back down to a sheathe, then put it back on his belt. He held Crocea Mors in both hands, then held the blade by the fuller and ran his fingers down the length of the blade, channeling his aura into it.

There was an energy-like humming sound, followed by a slightly muffled metallic rasping as the blade suddenly doubled from thirty inches in length to sixty inches in lenght. White runes glowed harshly along its length in organic looking patterns. Jaune idly thought he'd seen such patterns before, but then something odd happened.

Four glowing bands of white aura suddenly shot up and down from the tips of the widened guard, connecting with the tip of the blade and the pommel of the handle, as if surrounding its cruciform shape in a large white oval.

_'This... is certainly new.'_

'Can you figure out what caused it?'

_'I have no idea.'_

'Shit...' Jaune hummed with thought.

Raiden paused as well, "Is it supposed to do that?"

"No..." the answer was honest and confused.

'What are these runes?'

_'Oh, those? Well... HAHAHA! It's rather comical, thinking of our parallels.'_

'What do you mean?'

_'I had some assistance in creating this sword from the greatest blacksmith of my time.'_

'Who was~?'

_'Yun Xiao Long, Iron Little Dragon.'_

'... hehe, that IS pretty funny.'

_'Now then... those runes are the runes of a Xihun Dreadwing mask. A Xihun Dreadwing is an ungodly draconic creature native to Vacuo. There are less than five in the world. It is able to drain aura from humans and faunus alike to fuel its own power and growth. Luckily, Yun's semblance was part of why he was the greatest blacksmith of my time. Agneyastra, the flames that guard the light. He was able to use his aura with his semblance to melt down the mask and remove the negative properties of the soul sucking power. It will, as far as all accounts have seen, only accept Arc auras to transform, and the runes that were on the mask glow with the color of the aura used in it.'_

Jaune pondered that, then quickly raised the sword to block an incoming swing from Raiden, and was surprised when the attack was easily held back!

"Huh, it seems those bands of aura aren't just for show." the swordsman said with appraisal in his tone.

"Yeah, seems like it."

_'Those bands are aura constructs. Whatever caused it probably has to do with your semblance. What surprises me is that they're blocking the slashes.'_

Jaune's forearm phased through the band protecting the handle, 'Well, it doesn't block ME, luckily.'

'_Luckily. Strange, though. It seems the pull on your aura has quintupled.'_

Suddenly the aura band protecting the blade broke with one more swing, and Raiden knocked the lengthy blade away like it was nothing.

'_Oh... only quadrupled... it seems those bands are draining your aura more. Try focusing on not having them.'_

The knight focused his aura, attempting to stop the flow. The band on the back of the handle flickered, but persisted.

'_Well that's not very good. You need to work more with aura control before you'll be able to manage that.'_

'Seems like it... aw crap.' Jaune's body sailed through the air and into a tree, breaking it and winding him.

"Don't drift off or you'll get hit, Jaune." the suited man instructed as he dispelled the electricity-looking aura around his fist.

"Sorry, just having some heavy thoughts!" the armored teen shouted while getting up, his blue aura flashing around his body and alleviating his pain.

"Well get your act together and FIGHT, Jaune!" not wanting to relent, Raiden charged at Jaune with ninja speed.

Jaune met him sword to sword, spinning Crocea Mors around to block it with the other protective band. Adapting his strategy, he slid his sword upwards, forcing Raiden's sword down onto the handle-protecting band and around to the back. With strength he at one point only dreamed of having, he slashed the featherweight blade down Raiden's right arm, cutting through the suit and into his arm.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH~!" Raiden cried out almost garbled in pain as the energy edge sliced into his arm, "FUUUUUUUU~!" his body convulsed and he punched Jaune in the chest, sending him flying back a good fifteen feet.

The confused blonde stood up, watching his comrade twitch and spasm.

"You..." he said with a rasp, "You... hurt... me..." he coughed in pain

_'Jaune, you should probably call the match.'_

'Yeah!' Jaune immediately ran up to the dazed Raiden and picked him up, forcing him to the ground, "Yield." he said firmly.

Dazed and confused, Raiden coughed, "Yield..." his voice trailed off and he attempted to sit up, coughing violently with bits of crimson flying out and staining the grass of the Emerald forest.

Stopping the flow of aura into Crocea Mors entirely, Jaune sheathed the sword and helped Raiden to sit up completely. He looked for the wound, but was surprised to see the suit seemed unharmed!

"How is your suit undamaged?"

"It's... *cough cough* made of... *cough~, cough cough, wheeze* nanomachines... *cough* son." and with that, he fell back, unconscious.

Jaune frowned, "Well... don't worry, buddy." he picked Raiden up with a good bit of effort, pulling him to his feet and into a fireman's carry, careful to leave his sword arm free. Picking up his friend's slightly curved gray sword by its black rubber handle, he steadily made his way back to the academy, trying to think positive.

'I'll get him back and patch him up with some healing aura and try to figure out how those bands formed.'

_'Indeed. If possible, we may be able to use the dust battery inside the blade to enhance those bands.'_

'Dust battery?!'

_'Ah, yes. At the core of the blade is a dust battery. It's the only metal part of the blade, actually. Yun never told me what it was specifically made of, but he said the metal's luster and magnetic properties allowed dust to be safely forged into it without being activated and exploding.'_

'... Yun Xiao Long, Iron Little Dragon, told you that a lustrous, magnetic metal could be used to forge dust safely into metal... is it not IRON?'

_'I tried that and that's how I got a flame scar on the left side of the base of my neck.'_

'Why didn't you use your aura constructs to shield yourself?'

_'I was young and foolish then. Remember? Arcs rise from-'_

'-normal men to super men. I remember, Jacques.'

'_Good... bogey three'o'clock.'_

'WHAT?'

Jaune turned to see an Ursa Major approaching him and his unconscious friend with murder in its eyes.

Granted _all_ Grimm had murder in their eyes, but these murderous eyes looked _extra_ murderous.

"Shit... you're an ugly motherfucker, aren'cha?" he mocked, readying his sword.

'_Careful, Jaune. You don't want a repeat of Saturday.'_

'I know!'

The Ursa raised a paw swung it at the knight, who countered by stabbing it through the wrist, "You want to hurt me and my friend?" he spat with a hint of anger in his voice.

The Grimm's roar cut through the air, awakening Raiden, who immediately shifted himself and fell of Jaune's back, "Ow~..." he stood up, "Shit, arm's a bit fucked up, but I'll manage." he looked at Jaune expectantly, "My sword?"

The hoodie-wearing boy nodded, "Yeah." and quickly shoulder-checked the Ursa Major while forcing the blade up and through its neck and skull. Feeling that same tremendous weight fall onto the sword, Jaune quickly pulled back and let the massive beast fall, its putrid blood smoking as it dissipated off the blade.

"Good job." the swordsman said as he held out his hand, "Now, my sword?"

"Right, here." the Arc heir held it by the back of the blade and offered the handle to his friend.

Raiden took the sword and sheathed it, "Well, at least there weren't many complications other than my injured arm." he turned and squatted slightly, "Hop on and we'll talk over what we learned today while I take us back to the academy."

Jaune hopped onto Raiden's back and hold on tight as they took off at ninja speeds.

* * *

"What do you _mean_ you won't do it? You'll do it and you'll goddamn LIKE IT!" Roman shouted at his scroll.

He had to get more professional help, and if it took something as ridiculous as intercepting the particular shipments he'd be sending the troops on, so be it.

Turning around to lean against the table, he lit up a cigar and watched the White Fang troops go about their business.

"Care to share that light?" a deep voice said from his left.

"GAH!" a bit of ash landed on Roman's shoe, "Mother fu-grrrr~." he turned to the cloaked figure that stood beside him, "Do you _mind~_?"

"If I didn't then I wouldn't ask for a light." a thick hand held out a cigar.

"Fine~." the orange-haired thief lit the cigar, "So what's brought you to our fair warehouse?"

"More a fairhouse, I don't see many wares." the cloaked man scoffed as he looked at the few crates of dust they had.

"Well let me tell ya, we're gonna get one HELL of a ally next week."

"The Shadowed Glassblower? Or did she tell you to call her the Breezy Acrobat?" the larger man chuckled lowly, his keen eyes picking out a deer and a rabbit faunus who were engaged in a game of cards.

"I was given the name Mirror Maiden, Ex. Also, could you PLEASE stop monitoring my calls?"

Ex smirked, "No can do, Pathlighter. So how's the Burner boy been?"

"Oh, Adam? As always, he's far too busy to run the troops through drills." Roman frowned. He and Adam were kinda cool. He was an asshole, but his assholery was easy to get used to.

"I see... and Ashy?"

"He's been inactive for a little over five fucking years, Wildfire, I don't think he even has our number anymore."

"Regardless, I have his, and I'm giving him a call."

* * *

There was a loud sound of a slot machine rolling, followed by three loud clicks.

"YOU WON A PHONECALL!" went the black scroll on the nightstand, rudely awakening the bed's occupant

"GAH!" he fell to the floor with a thick *THUMP*, causing pain to shoot across his back, "GYIIIHHHHH~!" he seized up as the pain dissipated temporarily, then flashed all over, "**FUCK!**" his raspy voice echoed off the bedroom walls.

*CLICK, CLICK, CLICK*

"YOU WON A PHONECALL!" the scroll repeated

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" he shouted at the device, before sitting up while a smoky haze of crimson aura flowed over his sore back, soothing all the pain therein.

*CLICK, CLI-* the call was violently answered.

_"Doc-"_

"HELLO WHAT IS IT WHO ARE YOU AND WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU CALLING AT THIS UNHOLY HOUR?" he rubbed his golden eyes as they glowed in the dark.

_"Doctor..."_ the deep, smooth voice he never wanted to hear again said.

"Executioner, pray tell why you've liberated me of a peaceful sleep?"

Ex, or 'The Executioner' as he preferred, chuckled, _"Good ol' Doctor Outbreak, don't tell me you've gone soft in your old age? Sleeping already?"_

"I'm in my mid-forties you fucker, and I do NOT want to come back, I have more important things to worry about."

_"Like what? Poisoning innocent people?"_

"I'm not like that anymore."

_"SURE~ you're not, great and mysterious Ashbringer of Effort."_

"The Fires of Chaos simply... burnt out for me." he chuckled lowly and dangerously, halfway considering throwing his scroll at the wall.

_"Ha ha ha, I see you've observed the Djinn of Explosion."_

"Well the Wildfire of Hope has lost his hope because he's wrong."

_"Well I have the good ol' Pathlighter of Charm and Burner of Bloodshed here with me. If need be, I can have them come get you."_

"Fuck... NO... what do you WANT?" his raspy voice delivered the question with an angry edge.

This brought a nearly audible smile to the Executioner's lips,_ "Right, let's cut to the chase, shall we?"_

"I ain't askin' again!" he was getting legitimately angry right now.

_"Listen... we've been robbing dust shops recently. From Dust til Dawn was our latest failure, stopped by a kid in red and wielding a scythe."_

_"Hey! That red kid only got out alive because she was saved by some Huntress dressed as a slutty teacher!" _came Roman's angry voice.

This made the man pause, "Go on~." his eyes narrowed as he adjusted his sleeping shirt.

_"We recently took a risky hit on Black Ash Dustery and Weapons. It was successful, turns out the owner, esteemed Huntsman Qrow Rose, doesn't secure his doors against crowbars."_

"Doors are rarely _ever_ secure against crowbars, boyo."

"_Still, lack of security aside, turns out we were able to secure a decent quantity of dust. Now then... Ashbringer, care to do some spywork, just like old times?"_

"I quit after a week of that bullshit, don't try to bring me back into it."

_"You were a prized member until our reformation, which mind you, YOU helped with."_

A low, dangerous chuckle cut through the air harshly. The man's pale face turned to look at the dark wings on his back, the blindingly obvious tell of his faunus heritage, "I was drunk... and don't remind me."

_"Care to get drunk again?"_

"Fuck you."

_"So you'll do it?"_

"Fine, asshole, any new additions to the team?"

_"Well the Pathlighter of Charm was a recent addition, you know. Our lovely Smoke of Deceit functions in Mistral at the moment."_

"Shame, I'd love to tear her apart."

_"You and your undying libido aside, Kain, the Immolator of Cleansing, hasn't ended up killing himself yet."_

"That douchebag that runs Alich Academy? Wow, you must have been scraping the bottom of the barrel for him."

_"He is an incredibly strong fighter, almost as strong as me, and I am almost as strong as our dear Djinn of Explosion."_

"Whoever THAT is, I don't care if you to kill him or have him join our side."

"_OUR side? I was under the impression you were retired?"_

"I love pissing you off." he ran a hand through his greasy hair, smirking almost audibly.

_"Well we have an agent close to Mark Destination, a young girl soon to attend Aurora Academy, Sierra Cottelo, the Phoenix of Rebirth."_

"Why should I care?"

_"She's like you, but an eagle faunus. She's also charged with rekindling the Fires of Chaos should all of us fall."_

"Well, fancy that." he stretched his arms and flexed his wings, "An avian faunus with wings and no beak? My oh my how frightening." he took a second to glance at his fingernails, "How will I survive with my special snowflake status ripped from me~?" he mocking protested melodramatically.

_"Don't be drama queen, don't want it to match your heels."_

"Eat a bag of grilled dick sandwiches, asshole."

_"Will you provide me with a bag of grilled dick sandwiches to eat?"_

"Don't get snappy with ME young man, you should respect your elders before they kick your face in so hard it comes out yer arse."

_"Come back?"_

"I'll punch you in your four-eyed face, but sure... only for a little while."

_"How does one billion seconds sound?"_

"I am NOT sticking around for over thirty-one years."

_"How about just a million?"_

"I'll sweeten the deal, instead of twelve days, I'll stay for two whole weeks... non-consecutively."

_"Fine, but you had better put in your days before Christmas."_

"I will, trust me. So... any plans for this... Djinn? Who is it, pray tell?"

_"I'll give you three hints: He's tall, blonde, and wears armor."_

* * *

"_You know, this is certainly not what I expected." yellow armor gleamed under the lightbulb as Jacques took in the sight before him._

"WHA? GAH! AH! NO!" _Jaune shot to his feet, clothed with only a second of thought._

_"J-Man? Where are you going?" Yang said with pouting lips, sitting up in bed now and wearing nothing but the blanket, which fell below her huge breasts before the image vanished with an explosion._

"NO! What is this? God DAMMIT do I even WANT to know?" Jaune looked around, back in the rolling hills of the field with the night sky bright and the crescent moon shining its pale, milky light down on the grass.

_"A lucid dream, perhaps?" the golden-eyed veteran suggested._

"Shit... how do I stop this? Wait, why are-... don't tell me you share my dreams with me."

_"Oddly enough, the last three nights' dreams have consisted of: taking Yang on a date, kissing Yang, and if I had not had spoken up? Having sex with Yang." Jacques sat on the pedestal next to Crocea Mors, picking the sword up and turning it over in his hand._

"Thank you, you probably know about that thing I'm doing for the-"

_"Testosterone buildup, yes I am aware."_

"Yeah... so can you give me any advice, maybe? Teach me some moves?"

_"I can put someone else in charge."_

"No thank you." the blue-eyed youth shook his head rapidly and moved his hands side-to-side to emphasize how much he didn't want that.

_"Alright then... ah!" he focused on the blade of Crocea Mors, "The dust battery is, if memory serves, currently loaded with Force dust, which will, as the name implies, amplify the force of the strike, which can help offset the complications caused by the featherlight blade."_

"I'm guessing it can only hold one dust at a time?"

_"Yep."_

"Cool... now what?"

_"Want to try to kill me and take control of my aura and semblance?"_

"Noooooo~ thank yooouuu~!" Jaune took a few steps back, "I don't need my ass kicked."

_"Smart man... so, what DO you want to do?"_

"... fly around and shoot lasers out of my eyes?"

_"Hehe, go for it, then." the spirit removed his yellow armor and began doing some stretches Jack had taught him back then._

"I could~... BUT..." _Jaune looked hesitant now._

_"But what?" Jacques lifted his gaze to his great great grandson._

"Maybe you and I can just... talk?" _the younger knight offered with a warm, friendly smile._

_The older knight smiled right back, "I... I'd like that."_

_The night wore on as the two conversed._

* * *

"You're wondering WHAT NOW?"

"Is Jaune a pervert?"

"NO!" Blake's eyes widened at the forcefulness she had put into the denial, and immediately backpedaled "Uh... *ahem* if he's seemed like it... he _has_ been training with Yang almost daily for the past three weeks." the ravenette sighed, "Yang is very vocal, as you might know, and I'm sure they've had enough conversations for a few things to rub off on him. I'm very sure he's not actually a pervert."

"Ah." the brunette said with understanding, "That makes sense." She hadn't talked much with Yang, but she knew from what little experience she had that the boisterous brawler had a sense of humor that often leaned into lewd territory.

The were several seconds of pregnant silence between the two.

'_He IS a rather nice guy. He knew of my heritage and didn't judge me, in fact he has some fond memories involving feline faunus! Maybe I could... I could try? He's certainly _dozens_ of leagues above any other man I've seen, well...'_ Blake's thoughts turned to her past '_He has a lot of potential, and while he's been good so far, I can't help but think he may end up like Adam, using his sword for revenge and hatred. Maybe... maybe I can help him?'_

Velvet's thoughts were a bit different, '_He's been unbelievably kind as I've seen. He's stopped a bully without resorting to violence, he's gained the trust of six very different girls, and to be honest... he's very, VERY good looking. I think I would enjoy being with him, it certainly seems like he would be the ideal choice.'_ she smiled softly.

It was then that the silence gave birth.

"So why did you ask me?" Blake looked at the girl beside her as she spoke.

"Huh?" Velvet was surprised by the sudden question.

"Why did you ask me if Jaune was a pervert or not?"

"Oh..." Velvet hummed lightly, then recounted her tale of Sunday night to the ninja.

Blake's eyes narrowed slightly, Professor Goodwitch certainly seemed off-character in that instance, perhaps she and Jaune had some history?

It was possible...

"Do you know why they were like that?"

"Well, Jaune had cracked a joke about Professor Goodwitch not knowing the difference between tutoring and seduction-"

"Which is why you asked?"

"-yes... *ahem* and Professor Goodwitch scolded him like he was a child."

Blake hummed. Perhaps a young Jaune Arc knew Glynda Goodwitch as some sort of authority figure... perhaps a godmother? A family friend? A babysitter?

The latter two seemed more likely.

Hopefully the older woman wouldn't take a... _romantic interest_ in their goofy blonde boy.

...

_Their?_

Well, by a logical standpoint, Jaune was _theirs, _all things considered. He was a part of the two closely-bound teams who very literally lived right next to one another, the _leader_ of one of those teams, and a _very_ strong influence on all members thereof.

There wasn't any way to deny it, Jaune Arc had a lot of charisma.

And it was showing.

Blake wouldn't get involved, she wouldn't.

Uh-uh.

No sirree.

Nope.

Wasn't gonna happen.

In her dreams!

...

In her dreams... her thoughts drifted to imagining what it would be like to be romantically involved with Jaune.

She blushed when her eyes went back to the page of her book, a romance novel called _The Good kind of Burn._

The book spun the tale of a young and very nervous woman named Amarillo who had little skill in the ways of combat. Cue a mysterious and agile swordsman named Nero who was quickly wooed by Amarillo's beauty and intelligence, and was infected with a desire to know more about her.

*SLAM*

Blake stood up while blushing furiously, "I should go."

Velvet simply gave an absent hum, no longer paying attention to her surroundings.

The door to the library quietly clicked closed.

* * *

"So why did you want double sessions?"

"To test how you practiced on your day off, of course."

"Tuesdays and Thursdays, well at least I'll have five days off."

"Anyways, come on. Fight me, Jaune."

"Alright, don't rush me, Raiden!"

The two blondes drew their swords, one from his hip, one from his back.

Jaune took his shield in his other hand as Raiden took up a defensive stance.

"So how did my heal help you?" the knight asked.

"My arm was as good as new." the ninja answered.

"That's good... it made me feel kinda cold and tingly, which was... weird."

"Probably just how it dealt with my body."

"How it dealt with your body? What's different about your body?"

"I'll tell you when you're older." Raiden smirked as his constant inching forward had halved the distance between them.

_'Remember, Jaune, your sword can cast aura and dust! Use that to your advantage!'_

'Last time it drained my aura five times faster!'

_'Well you still have massive reserves, so just... TRY.'_

'Fine!'

Jaune charged forward, his shield in front of him as he let out a battlecry.

Raiden delivered a quick, but unbelievably strong punch that ceased Jaune's charge in an instant, sending the knight flying back and through a tree, "Sloppy! Lower to the ground and with a wider stance! Again!"

The knight charged again, a bit slower, but more steady.

He received another punch, but was able to push past it and bash his friend in the chest, "Good, good! Again!" the ninja commanded, jumping back about twenty feet.

They practiced that charge a couple dozen times, each time was a little better than the last.

"You improve quickly, though I'm not sure if it's because you listen to instructions well or you're just a naturally advanced learner."

"I play a lot of video games."

"AH! That makes sense. It's translated well. Now then, try to get through my guard! Don't worry, I'll dial back my strength by ninety percent, giving you a chance."

They practiced and practiced until the motions nearly became reflexive, "Alright, I think I'm getting the hang of this!" the taller blonde cheered, making another of the practiced strikes.

"You are indeed! Give it about nine hundred and fifty more repetitions and it'll become muscle memory."

"Alright! Then let's do it nine hundred and fifty more times!"

The honest enthusiasm made Raiden pause, "Are you sure you can handle that?"

"With how much aura I have in my blue reserves and its ability to act as medicine, which I could use to keep myself awake, I could afford to skip a night of sleep."

"Daring... then we have time for conversation as you practice breaking guards."

"My sword is indestructible, it was forged from Grimm plate, a Xihun Dreadwing, that's why it's able to expand when I channel my aura into it."

"Useful." the man muttered numbers as Jaune continued bashing at him, "An indestructible sword... it does not bend, flex, warp, or break, correct?"

_'Well it WOULD, but only to EXTREME forces. In theory, older and stronger Grimm plate would be "more indestructible" than the sword, but the only older Grimm plate than these would be the masks of the Dark Royals, AKA the kings and queens of the species of Grimm.'_

'The Grimm have hierarchies?'

_'Given enough time, chaos becomes order. The legends say that the oldest and strongest of each type of Grimm were blessed by the dark and evil gods with special powers. They're each extremely massive, even for their species, and their masks are said to only be able to be damaged by the attacking hands of the Grand Lord Oum himself.'_

'Wow...'

Several minutes of wordless silence, filled with the clanging of sword-on-sword, passed.

"So tell me, Jaune: Why are you doing this?"

"What do you mean?"

"_This!_ Training with me to become a better swordsman, rather than, say, becoming a farmer or something, or training with guns... I don't really know what you country-folk do for skills."

"Well... in all honesty... I could have been any of a number of things, but I wanted to be a Huntsman to preserve my family line of heroism. I wanted to be a hero, dammit! A HERO! Fighting for justice!"

"Always a noble goal. Justice is universally deserved."

"And fighting for truth!"

"Not always a good choice. The truth is painful."

"Well I don't jus' wanna fight for justice! I ain't wantin' ta be a one-trick-pony."

"Then for WHAT? For what reason do you fight? For what reason do you draw your sword? For what reason do you even CHOOSE your sword? For what reason, what what what WHAT CAUSE... do you wish to commit acts of violence for? What is the cause for which you fight?"

Jaune's aura flared angrily, "I... I..."

"I'm talking IDEALS, Jaune. Tell me... what are YOURS?"

"I... I fight to protect the weak..."

Raiden frowned, "I used to think it could be that simple, but I know better know, it's not that simple... WHY?"

"I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!" an azure light erupted all over Jaune's body, and in one incredibly strong movement, he broke through Raiden's guard and hit him in the face with a haymaker while his shield was in gauntlet form, sending the suited swordsman flying back through two trees.

Lunging after his opponent, Jaune found his 'medicine' was enhancing his performance, and grinned as he delivered an incredible assault as time seemed to slow down, his senses firing off quickly.

One hit.

Two hits.

Six hits.

Fifteen hits.

Thirty-two hits.

Seventy hits.

What felt like a whole ten minutes, Jaune's senses returned to him.

_'STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP FUCKING STOP!'_ Jacques mentally screamed at him, and finally his aura ceased to glow.

Punching Raiden's chest felt like he was punching a pickup truck, I.E. REALLY HARD AND PAINFUL.

Clutching his wrist as it began aching, Jaune looked down at his friend who he had viciously battered like he was a mindless punching bag.

With a last bit of blue aura healing his aching wrist, he coughed awkwardly into his hand, "Raiden, are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah... I've taken a LOT harder punches than that... I'm sorry for pushing your buttons, man."

"Hey now, you were either genuinely curious about my motivations, or you were trying to break my composure with words. In either case, I flew off the handle and freaked out, or I failed the test. Ain't yer fault I failed, dude, it's mine."

This made Raiden pause. He knew how most people were, always displacing blame from themselves.

Jaune? Jaune was different, he took the blame and swore to do better, which was, admittedly, better than the alternative.

"Well, alright then. Just... figure out why you fight, okay? Remember these words if nothing else: If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything, and die for nothing."

The knight paused, "R-right..." he sighed through his nose and gave a small, annoyed hum, "Let's just head back to the academy, my aura reserves are pretty drained."

Raiden gave a hum, "Well... do you have enough to take a hit?"

"I'm pretty sure I could take a good few more." the blue-eyed youth admitted, "Why?"

Ivory teeth gleamed as the ninja grinned mischievously, "Excellent..." he picked Jaune up.

"Raiden I swear you better not-YOU ASSHOOOOOOOoooooooooo~..." the Arc heir soared upwards from his trainer's mighty toss.

The ninja grinned as he jumped up after his friend and grabbed him, using a bit of lightning to readjust himself and send them both sailing towards the ground at a thirty-degree angle.

Jaune grunted as his back was ground along the stones that made up Beacon's groundwork, feeling the remains of both of his auras chip and crack away.

Suddenly, pain shot through his torso, and the world went darker than it already was.

* * *

"You take risks... admirable for a hero, not admirable for a man who wishes to stay alive." a slightly familiar voice chastised the young Huntsman-in-training.

"Oooowwww~..." Jaune groaned as he sat up, rubbing his head.

"You wouldn't be in pain if you did not overestimate your aura's pain suppressing abilities." there was a sound of metal on metal and footsteps.

"Truth be told, I thought my blue reserves were a bit higher than that." the Arc heir pushed himself to his feet.

"In your rage, you unintentionally called upon your white and blue auras at the same time, the result being an azure energy that your enraged mind used to increase your speed and strength." the dead Arc explained, helping Jaune to his feet and brushing him off, "Now come on, grandson, we have work to do."

Jaune blinked, his vision clearing. In front of him stood Jebediah, his grandfather.

The one his birth had killed.

"H-hey, s-sorry abou-"

"T'was not your choice to be born while I was away on the field of battle. Truly t'was my own fault for finding combat more important than my family."

"Family is important."

"That it is..."

"So... you're taking control?"

"Of course! I nearly forgot."

A purple neon glow filled Jaune's vision as he felt a cool reassurance flow through him.

* * *

A gloved hand panickedly shot another needle into Jaune's neck.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, I need to make sure he's okay... god DAMMIT." Raiden chastised himself as he put away the sixth empty needle thus far.

When Jebediah awoke, he did not feel pain, rather he felt like he could bench-press a Goliath and throw it into another.

Raiden's eyes widened when he saw his friend's eyes open without a single other sign of life. He quickly injected the drugs and pulled the needle out, earning a gasp of breath from the knight, "FINALLY! Oh god, I was afraid I'd accidentally killed you."

Purple neon flowed over his body's few, but grievous wounds, "You'd have to try harder than that, friend."

"Hahaha, yeah, I guess I would... oh shit... I'm sorry about your hoodie, man."

"Huh?" he turns his neck to see that the back of his hoodie was torn to shred, "Oh. Don't worry, it's replaceable." he gave a warm, friendly smile of reassurance.

"Oh, good. I'd hate to have messed you up more than necessary."

"T'is not a problem. Like I said, it's replaceable, and so is my missing aura."

"Alright, good. I know it might seem like I've been disproportionately kind to you for pretty much little to nothing in return, but let me tell you: you're keeping me active."

"I'm not sure I follow?" one eyebrow raised as his purple eyes gained an inquisitive glint.

"I literally have nothing better to do. After my first month at the academy, I'd already set up rules and regulations and a training schedule flexible enough to account for everything short of my teammates themselves dying, aced my classes and studied all of the material, the only things I have to do besides help you is slaughter Grimm by the thousands or simply wait." he chuckled lightly, "Waiting is a drag, and in the time I could spend taking down thousands, I could spend that time training someone else to take down Grimm by the thousands and then we can take down Grimm by a doubled amount of thousands."

"What if Team RWBY and Team JNPR train together and with Team FLRE?" the veteran questioned, curious as to the suited man's predictions.

"Ideally we'd all reach legend status. There are still bigger fish among trained and accomplished Hunters than even me and my oddities. Imagine yourself reaching a point where a thousand Grimm is a warmup."

Internally, Jaune found himself dumbstruck by that imagined level. A thousand Grimm? He would die within a minute.

Right NOW, at least...

He would improve relentlessly, he'd been training like hell for the past few weeks, he knew he'd make a breakthrough at some point, maybe even figure out his semblance.

He would get stronger.

He would get faster.

He would get smarter.

He would improve his swordplay.

He would improve his aura usage and manipulation.

He would become a great Huntsman!

... Why would he do it?

_'...'_

'Your silence unnerves me.

_'It's unnerving me a helluva lot more!'_

"That would be incredible." Jebediah finally replied.

"Exactly." Raiden smiled, "And all you have to do is work hard and never give up. Always push your limits. One hundred pounds is too easy? Try TWO hundred, then THREE hundred, your aura will keep you safe, you have a lot of it. You're a good kid, Jaune, and I want to see that good kid grow into an even better adult."

"I believe I'll grow well." his lips curled into a smirk, then he held out his fist.

The ninja smirked back and bumped fists with his friend, "You're already quite the good friend."

Friend.

Friend...

Immediately, Jaune's mind recalled images of Ruby's smiling face.

Friendship.

Friendship sounded like a good thing to fight for.

* * *

"The Vytal Fyestivyal! The Vytal Fyestivyal!" she half-cheered, half-whined.

"Calm down, sweetie, the Vytal Festival isn't until the end of the school year." her mother said, a soothing hand on her shoulder.

"Then why is Vale Cyity pweparing fow it NYOOOOWWWW~?" she asked curiously, pouting.

"They're getting ready for incoming students from Haven, Aurora, and Bastion Academies, as well as any off-brand senior academies as well." her father revealed.

"Buh... buh I wanna gyo TYOO~! I wanna gyo syee all da Hunters doing fights and stuffs!"

"Alright, let's make a deal. You can either wait until early November for us to send you up there for your brother's birthday, or you can go now, but you won't get to go to Pax East in Bonmast next March."

She was conflicted, she loved her big brother, but she also loved video games. Family was more important! But video games were so COOL~!

What would she do in Vale City for four weeks?

That would be far more time than necessary to see all the stuff she wanted to see, only two or three weeks would be much better, that way she wouldn't get bored waiting.

Perfect!

That way, she'd get to be with her brother AND go to Pax!

"I'll wait."

"Alright then." her mother, who stood five inches shorter than her, gave her a brief hug and turned, "I think your friends were looking for you earlier, actually, but I told them you were napping, you lazy girl." she walked into the other room.

The girl frowned. She'd missed her friends? That was TERRI-"They said they were going to visit the blacksmith."

"Oh... thanks mom~!" she waved goodbye as she headed out the door.

Five seconds later she walked back in the door, "Where's the blacksmith~?"

"Two doors down from the baker."

"So on Dreary Lane?"

"Yep!"

"Thanks mom!"

"You're welcome sweetie." her mother went back into the other room.

Ready to go meet her friends, the young girl headed out into the town.

* * *

"So Sunny, I have a question." Jebediah said as he blocked another punch with an even smaller amount of effort.

"What's that, J-man?" Yang replied, throwing another punch that was once again blocked.

_'Ask her if she was a supermodel or a martial artist first.'_

'... THAT'S what you want me to ask? REALLY?'

_'You have to talk to her during the fight or she'll get too into the fighting and forget the training in order to beat the snot outta me.'_

'I believe I can block every punch she throws at me, plus all her kicks.'

_'Still, she'll think something's up!'_

'FINE!'

"So~, I've been wondering... were you a martial artist or a supermodel first?"

This made Yang blush, but she continued regardless, "Yes." she threw another punch.

He blocked the punch, "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean my muscles grew and developed alongside the rest of my body as I grew up." the busty brawler smirked, "When I was eleven, my tits were about one third the size they are now."

_'Oh... OH~... damn...'_

"Well you grew up like a work of art, Sunny."

Yang blushed harder, her cheeks burning a bright red, "So it's one of THOSE nights, huh?"

"I don't think I follow."

"Where you assault me with sly compliments to throw me off my game." she grinned almost like a barbarian as her eyes blazed with a pair of lilac infernos.

"Well your game is what keeps kicking my ass, and I prefer my ass unkicked." he chuckled.

_'What are you doing?!'_

'You a favor!'

"Then maybe I should start doing the same! I prefer my feet kicking." she punctuated her statement by drop-kicking the knight.

Except it didn't work. Purple aura flowed down Jaune's legs as the veteran grabbed the temporarily suspended brawler with his sword hand and flipped her over his head, slamming her into the ground.

The blonde girl stood up with her entire face red, "Did... did you just grab my ass?"

Those six words were what cracked Jebediah's composure, "I... what?"

_'Oh god she's gonna throw us off the roof.'_

"When you slammed me, you grabbed my ass." Yang grinned teasingly, "I mean, YEESH, Jaune, I know I'm sexy as hell but you don't gotta get so touchy-feely." she giggled, now fully into the teasing.

"Trust me when I say that that was NOT intentional."

"You sure? You squeezed me like it was your intention." she giggled a little more.

"I intended to flip you over my head and slam you into the ground, Yang. Anything that happened during that process was purely for that goal."

"Pffft~, whatever, you know you want me." she giggled a little more, even though she was making herself blush even harder.

"A lot of people want you, Yang, you've a level of beauty far beyond normal. Regardless, you can't let your popularity with those who would want you purely because of your looks blind you. You need to stay focused-" he lightly tapped the side of Crocea Mors against his temple to emphasize the word, "-on the intent of becoming a powerful heroine. Beacon is a school made to train fighters. To train warriors. To train heroes. To train those who fight for the good of the people. Now come on, I can take a bit more than what you're throwing at me."

Yang grinned, "Alright, but don't think I'll be wasting my aura using my semblance on you! Plus, I don't think this hoodie of yours is fireproof."

"You're STILL wearing that thing?" the veteran threw in some playfulness to keep up the illusion.

"Hey, you wear one all the time! Plus it's pretty comfy." the brawler briefly smiled and adjusted the garment, which she'd found was reversible with the two colors being black and orange, the latter being what she had on the outside at the moment.

"I wear it because it's warm, comfortable, durable, and expendable. I could consider it a wonder garment. It seems, however, that I'm gonna have to replace all of them, since I'm getting to be too big for them to fit comfortably anymore."

"Oh? Looks like my idea's been working and you're getting pretty strong and muscular."

"I was building muscle before, but you helping me is further assisting that. An increase in mass and tone, soon enough I'll beat you in an arm-wrestling match."

"Hehe, maybe." Yang sighed as she threw another punch.

"What, am I boring you?" Jebediah almost casually blocked the punch. After taking Raiden's titan-strength attacks, he trusted Jaune's defensive capabilities to match up to what he was doing right now.

"No, I just remembered tomorrow is sparring day in Combat Class, AND Weiss wants us to go check out the Vytal Festival setup in town, so we're heading out right after we're all out of our classes."

"Oh, sounds like fun. Mind if I join you?"

"Hehe, you sure you can handle four girls at once?" Yang giggled teasingly as she spun into a punch delivering a colossal amount of force.

The purple-eyed veteran had the decency to blush, "I have seven sisters and I've managed to keep up with their shenanigans before. In addition, I don't intend to consider this anything besides a friendly outing."

"Oh come ON Jaune~." Yang smirked teasingly at the boy, "Imagine it! You, and four beautiful girls, all on a big date at a festival."

"You would be okay with Ruby being there?"

"Ruby needs to break out of her shell, and while I MIGHT have potentially manifested the desire to kill you if you had tried anything before, I know you're a good guy and you're not gonna break her heart or anything."

"So we've transitioned to social studies now?" Jebediah lowered his shield.

"Yeah, sure." Yang compressed Ember Celica back down to bracelets.

"Alrighty then. So, if I had to pick someone in our group of friends to ask out on a date, who do you suggest?" his tone was joking.

"Well OBVIOUSLY Ren has the hots for ya!" the brawler giggled innocently, "But in all seriousness, I'd rather not say anything, that's up for YOU to decide, dude." her tone went serious for a minute, then returned to joviality, "But seriously I'm pretty sure Ren has been eyeing you up for a while now."

"Well he and Nora really _aren't_ 'together-together, it seems, so I could ask HER."

"Are you sure you can handle Nora's antics?" Yang raised her eyebrows in questioning.

"She's not too much different from Juicia, in fact they even look a lot alike, so I think I could handle her." despite his words, the knight grimaced.

"We _aren't_ like your sisters, Jaune, we're your friends." the boisterous blonde's voice had gone softer and more concerned, "Are you going to take this romance thing seriously or not?"

"I _will_ take it seriously, by staying _away_ from it!"

_'Jeb, you're kinda sorta... FUCKING THINGS UP HERE!'_

'NO! Enough of these foolish concerns! We are taking the goal of HEROISM seriously.'

"Are you saying you don't want love?" Yang was getting frustrated now, why was Jaune acting with such opposition to this idea?

"Love is not my concern right now, my concern is becoming stronger, faster, more dexterous, more skilled in swordsmanship and fighting in general, more able to protect everyone, more able to be a hero." his tone was sincere, but that was the problem.

Let it be known that Yang Xiao Long was not a patient person, the fact that she was trying right now was a testament to her dedication, "You have like, fifty-plus years to do that! Can't you slow down just a little to go on a date or something?"

"If I don't get stronger and better at fighting, I might not even have fifty-plus _hours_ longer to live. Only through improvement can I succeed."

"How can you be so pessimistic?"

"Hope for the best and prepare for the Oum-forsaken absolute worst... that's what my grandfather used to say."

_'Did... did you just QUOTE YOURSELF?'_

'I did.'

"Grrrrr~, is it part of your 'upholding your family legacy' to be a stubborn fuckhead?" fire began coming up from Yang's hair and her eyes turned red.

"I'm sorry, I just have more important things to deal with right now than handling a relationship."

"Like WHAT?" the furious girl was about five seconds from exploding in rage.

"IT'S COMPLICATED OKAY? YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND!" and with that, Jebediah immediately turned tail and ran, throwing open the door to the training building and getting into a full-tilt sprint. He ran as fast as he could, carrying nothing but the clothes and armor on his back and the weapons at his side. He didn't stop until he was out of sight.

_'YOU GO BACK THERE AND YOU APOLOGIZE RIGHT GODDAMN NOW, GODDAMMIT!'_

'Yang is far too infuriated to deal with. Besides, we have important work to do.'

'_NO! I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE WORK WE "HAVE" TO DO! I WANT MY FRIENDSHIP TO REMAIN UNBROKEN!'_

'Look alright I can FIX this, okay? Just give me time!'

_'So you admit you fucked up then?'_

'YES OKAY I FUCKED UP! I CAN FIX IT JUST SHUT UP WHILE I TRAIN YOUR BODY!'

_'Fine... you better make use of this time, and don't fuck up with Pyrrha too!'_

'Oh... we have HER for training too, don't we?'

'_Yes! Every day! Training with Pyrrha is always after training with Yang!'_

'Well... at least Pyrrha won't be expecting us to talk about feelings and relationships.'

* * *

"Jaune? Are you alright? If you ever need to talk to me about your feelings or any... relationships." she practically choked the word out, "Then you can." she smiled at him, a warm, sweet, friendly smile that would draw most in to say 'Hi' to this beautiful girl.

_'You were saying?'_

Jebediah was not like most, 'I said "expecting us to talk" not "expecting us to be open", Jaune.' he cleared his throat, "I'm fine, Pyr. I don't want to bother you with my problems."

"It's fine, Jaune, remember? We're partners, and if you need help, I'll always do whatever I can." her smile returned, attempting to charm the boy.

Unfortunately, the boy of her desires was preoccupied silently plotting a way to kill his grandfather.

And even more unfortunately, said grandfather had zero interest in furthering Jaune's social life.

"Alright... if I feel like I can't handle it, I'll come to you, Pyrrha." he gave her a smile, which she returned in a moment, "Now then... you know I've been getting stronger." his smile widened a little.

"I can tell just from looking at you, you've built up an impressive amount of muscle in only a few weeks, what's your secret?" Pyrrha smiled, admiring her leader's physique.

"My aura was able to help me... I think it worked better than most auras would, though."

"Well... maybe your semblance was involved?"

"Maybe... maybe it has to do with improving myself?

"It would be kind of ironic." Pyrrha giggled, blessing the blonde's ears with the angelic sounds of her laughter.

"Haha, it would be, kind of." Jebediah chuckled, smiling that charming smile, "But I don't think it's that simple, or broad."

"Right, exactly." the spartan dropped the joviality she held a moment ago and sheathed her weapons, "So... would you like to move on to aura, maybe?"

"What? I was looking forward to a spar. Are you saying you're afraid that I'm stronger than you now?" he chuckled in playful taunting.

Pyrrha giggled, "Those are fighting, words, Jaune, are you sure you should be throwing them around?"

"Sure I'm sure! Hell, I'll throw YOU around, hehehe." he pointed at her for emphasis, then chuckled mirthfully.

"Unarmed combat? Alright then..." the spartan sheathed her weapons, "No using aura except for defending, okay?"

"Alright, I can do that." internally, Jebediah smirked, as his semblance itself massively enhanced his aura's defensive capabilities.

"First off, we should check out aura levels." Pyrrha went over to the horizontal air conditioning that served as a makeshift table and checked her scroll, "Alright, I'm still at 89%, what about you, Jaune?" she turned back to look at the knight...

... who happened to be empty-handed, "I don't have my scroll."

"What? Maybe you left it in the room?" she checked her scroll's 'Team Status' feature, but it stated Jaune's scroll was out of range, "It says your scroll is out of range, but that doesn't make any sense."

Jebediah's eyes flickered with understanding, "I must have left it..."

* * *

A shout of anger.

An explosion of fire and broken metal parts.

A cry of fury.

Ouch, even though they don't have nerves, THAT would HURT.

"Miss Xiao Long, please stop breaking all of the training bots." the room's AI said calmly.

"NO!" she thrust her fist towards a group of three.

*BOOM* they were all blown away.

"Wave ended, retracting training bots." the AI said suddenly, shortly followed by mechanical arms quickly and efficiently reaching down and retrieving all of the robots.

"WHAT THE HELL?" fire continued to blaze from Yang's hair as she looked up at the ceiling.

"Miss Xiao Long, your battle rage may be impressive for a first-year's power level, but you are sure to exhaust yourself if you continue for even a minute longer." the feminine voice analyzed, "Given the average aura consumption per strike and the amount of strikes per minute... need I remind what happens when your aura runs out?"

"You're exposed to the world until it recovers, I KNOW~!" she did a talking gesture with her hand and rolled her eyes, still adequately frustrated even after taking the edge off her aggression.

"Your poor attitude will be your downfall in battle, Ms. Xiao Long." the AI warned.

"Your poor attitude will be your downfall in battle~." Yang repeated in a high-pitched, nasally voice, her hand continuing the talking gesture in mocking imitation of the AI.

"I would be more inclined to help you if you were to act less mockingly."

"I don't **WANT** your help, though!"

"I am programmed to assist the students with their emotional issues."

"Oh yeah? Well go program somewhere else!" the brawler shook her fist at the ceiling.

The lights flickered once, then dimmed.

Yang crossed her arms under her breasts and pouted, scuffing the floor with her boot. She walked out of the arena and went over to the bleachers, sighing. She put Jaune's hoodie back on, finding the garment too comfortable to leave behind.

Suddenly, there was the sound of an acoustic guitar, seeming to come from one of the seats. Looking over, Yang saw Jaune's scroll laying there, receiving a call from a contact. Looking at the name, she paled slightly.

Dad.

With a hesitant hand, the blonde girl answered the call.

Instead of an aged man on the other end, she was surprised to see the face of a girl with green hair, cool, calm turquoise eyes, wearing a forest-green buttoned shirt and a grass-green bowtie around her neck.

"... big brother, did you get transformed randomly?" her voice was low and somewhat tired.

"Uh... n-no, this is one of Jaune's friends, he left his scroll in the training room by accident... you're Jade, right?"

"Jade Arc, hello... why are you wearing my brother's hoodie, mysterious lady?"

"I'm not mysterious, I'm Yang Xiao Long. Your brother gave me the hoodie after he accidentally cut my shirt."

"Hehe, big bro is kinda clumsy, but he's a hero!" she grinned, raising a book into view, "Like a storybook." her smile widened slightly, then she lowered the book, "I was going to ask him how things were going at Beacon, but I see they're going quite well if he has a girlfriend as pretty as you, Miss Yang."

Yang blushed furiously at that, "I'm not his girlfriend! He just p-... wait how old are you?"

"I turn fourteen mid-November." Jade answered.

"He just made me REALLY mad a little while ago."

"Oh... what did he do? I'm sure he didn't mean it."

Yang sighed, about to correct the young green-head, when she realized that as his sister, Jade more-than-likely knew MUCH more about Jaune than Yang did, so she sat down and thought of how to explain it all, "Well, Jade, I've been helping Jaune be a better socialite, but when I tried to talk to him about trying to find a girlfriend, he started saying that he had more important things to deal with than managing a relationship."

"Oh... that's sad... well I'm sure he's just being focused on becoming a big strong hero like in the books, and remember, the book heroes get the girl at the END, not the beginning." the turquoise-eyed bookworm offered sagely.

"Huh... well then..." the lilac-eyed Huntress-in-training rested her chin in one hand, "Can you tell me some stuff about Jaune? I feel like I don't know him as well as I should at this point..." she felt like some insight from a more _personal _source could be handy.

"Alright... he's really stubborn, you've probably picked _that _up... when he puts his mind to something, he'll stop at nothing to accomplish his goals... he's really dedicated, which is why the others and I usually don't bother him, since he's questing to become a powerful hero... he loves all of us, which is really nice." Jade's lips curled into a happy little smile as she said that that, "But... sometimes he can get emotional and lose the ability to explain things, which is probably what happened with you, Miss Yang."

The aforementioned blonde stared at the screen whilst deep in thought, 'That would explain him running off... he... he wrote specifically that... that he loved all of us... hmmm~...' she cleared her throat, "Does he get angry when that happens?"

"Usually, yes. Big brother gets frustrated when he can't accomplish something, so he tries again and again... that's how he cut down his first tree, I think." Jade smiled at the memory, her big brother was so strong, she knew it in her heart.

Yang's eyes widened. While her words were simple and maybe even a little underwhelming, the tone the young Arc girl spoke with, combined with the expression on her face, spoke volumes of her feelings towards the blonde knight she was proud to call a sibling.

Those few moments made everything Yang felt about Jaune twist and twirl around, sucked up into a tornado and spit out into a different formation.

"Is that a look of love?" the young voice cut through the brawler's haze of deep thought easily, "Please tell me you're considering being the fair maiden my brother falls in love with!" now the bookworm was excited, clapping in minor celebration. This was just like her fanfiction! Except her brother was still seventeen instead of a thirty-something billionaire.

"H-hey! Fair maiden is an overrated term." despite her words, Yang blushed at the thought of being in a frilly dress and Jaune coming home, clad in his bloodstained Huntsman gear, reeking of sweat, battle, and manliness, and oh-so-lovingly coming up to and kissing her the second he saw her, using his height advantage to pull her close and softly meet her warm, soft lips with his own tender, strong lips. He stripped himself of his gear, practically tore her dress (which was dirtied from touching his stained gear) off, and took her to their bathroom, where they shared a tender time washing each other. Shortly after they were clean enough, he dominantly pushed her against the wall, the tile deceptively cool in the hot shower, and leveled his hips with hers-

"OLLY OLLY OXEN FREE~!" came a new voice, and Yang's eyes snapped towards the screen.

"W-w-w-what?" she stuttered out, her face flushed red.

One the screen, an orange-haired girl with eyes like somewhat muddied water had joined her sister, wearing a tan zip-up bolero jacket and a brown tank-top, holding a half-empty bottle of soda, "BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHA~! That was incredible!"

"Joy~, please be quiet, it's late and I'm talking with Jaune's future girlfriend and I don't want dad knowing I'm using his scroll without permission~."

"This is dad's scroll? Also wait." Juicia turned to face the screen, "Who are you and why are you going to be my big brother's girlfriend?"

"W-w-what? I... n-n-n-no! I... sh-sh-shut up, you're too young to know about that kind of stuff!"

"But I'm sixteeeeeen~, you're only seventeen, if you're at Beacon." she turned to her sister, "She IS at Beacon, right?"

Jade nodded, "Yes, this is Yang Xiao Long, one of Jaune's 'friends', I think she wants to be with him but she doesn't want to be a fair maiden."

"Fair maidens are overrated!" the orange-haired girl said firmly, "She should be an AWESOME maiden, that way big bro and her can go on adventures together and have tons of fun and stuff!"

Yang blushed heavily, "Don't you two have better things to do than ship your brother with random girls you just met?"

Jade giggled tiredly, "Okay, we'll stop bugging you, Miss Yang... make sure to tell big brother we said hi."

Juicia giggled as well, "And make sure to tell him we said we love him and we hope he does well." she pulled out a lighter, "Okay signing off with a BANG!" she pulled out a firecracker.

Jade looked at the small object, blinked, and then panic quickly filled her expression, "Juicia NO!" she reached for the device but was blocked by her big sister's longer arm.

"Okay byyyeee~." the explosives enthusiast said cheerfully as she pushed her little sister back and hit the End Call button.

Yang blinked as the call ended.

She stared at the picture Jaune had assigned as his wallpaper. He had drawn the entire group, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, herself, himself, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren, all standing in a line and all looking happy, the words 'RWBY and JNPR, friends for life.' over their heads.

However, the boisterous blonde's eyes caught sight of smaller, fainter letters on each of their chests.

Ruby had a P, Weiss had an R, Blake had an O, Yang herself had a T, Nora had an E, Pyrrha had a C, and Ren had a T.

"P-R-O-T-E-C-T... OH! Protect..." her eyes widened slightly.

Here she had practically shit on his beliefs about becoming a hero and protecting people, when... wasn't that her little sister's goal? And her own goal too, at least somewhat?

Then why was it different with Jaune?

"I'm gonna have to think long and hard on this... hehe, long and hard." she giggled, but then blushed furiously when an epiphany struck.

She knew she loved Jaune, but what was the extent of that love?

Well... her love was strong enough for the idea of him not wanting love to be infuriating to her.

Yang knew now, she would do _anything_ to win Jaune Arc's heart.

* * *

Jaune knew now, he would do _anything_ to gouge out Jebediah Arc's heart.

To the veteran's credit, he _was_ improving Jaune's physical body, as well as letting him feel the movements of his swordplay and shieldplay.

Regardless, he wished he would have left Pyrrha on better terms than "Well I need to go find my scroll, but by the time I get it, it will be too late to continue training, so goodnight." and then jogging off.

Still, this training hurt like hell!

A Beowolf was cleaved in two by Crocea Mors, which pulsed with white aura while Sanctus Mendax pulsed with purple.

'Pay attention, Jaune! You can think of your silly plan to kill me _later_, right _now_ is when you should be learning from what I'm putting you through. You'll need to pay as much attention as possible, because you need to take in these motions over a thousand times for it to become muscle memory.'

'_Muscle memory to KILL isn't something I'm too keen on, even if it _is_ on Grimm.'_

'You fear it will translate to the times you'll fight humans?'

_'Exactly!'_

'Don't worry, your will to refrain from killing _people_ is, even now, strong enough to resist what your muscles will learn... besides, these movements are 90% Grimm killing, the other 10% are universal.'

'_You really _are _a jackass in the worst way.'_

'How is that?'

_'You're a jackass, and then the justification for you being a jackass just makes me want to beat the shit outta you even more!'_

'Use that energy to fuel the killing of the Grimm, Jaune!'

'_I would rather stand around focusing on my aura training.'_

'Oh? AND WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU LOST YOUR AURA BY SOME MEANS, HUH?'

Jaune was struck speechless. He... hadn't really thought about that... and it stung that his asshole grandfather was the one who made him think about it.

'It seems your aura is rather flexible, creating these platforms was easier than I thought.'

Jebediah now stood high in the sky, a soft white platform under his feet, a dim purple forcefield surrounding him and keeping the wind from blowing him off said platform.

He stared into the green and black expanse below.

'... no, this is not the place.'

'_The place for what?'_

'You'll see, Jaune, you'll see.' and with that, he compressed the forcefield down to a skintight suit, launching himself through the air on his willpower and aura alone.

* * *

_She sat there on a boulder, golden eyes affixed to the sky._

_This deep into the Forever Fall, the second moon was visible._

_None knew why the second moon was there, it was said in the religious texts that the shattered moon represented humans and faunus and society as a whole, how they are all whole people, but each are broken, yet held together... though for the moon, its exterior was broken and held together by an internal force, gravity, while people had broken interiors and were held together by external force, their bodies._

_The second moon was said to represent those rare few that were stronger than all others, that remained unbroken in this bleak, decrepit world, who naturally shone with a light of honesty, strength, courage, or all three._

_All three, like Jaune Arc._

_He was honest, strong of character, and it was brave of him to persist in his goals despite being a normal man among deadly fighters will supernatural powers._

_She wanted that man to be there for her._

_So why wasn't she there for him?_

_Why was she out here? What purpose did she have for being in this remote area?_

_"Blake... it's time." oh, it was THAT dream again._

_She turned towards the tall man, about as tall as Jaune, if not slightly taller, and was surprised when she nodded, "Okay." what? No! She didn't want to do this this time._

_Despite her mind's wishes, she quietly knew that going against the dream would make her wake up prematurely._

_The world pulsed, but she quieted herself, following the older man._

_How old was Adam again? She herself was seventeen, her birthday was in February, three months before this event took place._

_Adam was twenty five now, his birthday was in late January._

_The air hummed, she quieted herself again._

_They ran through the forest, ninja legs carrying them both at high speeds. They reached the cliff, gazing out over the crimson and maroon foliage, in the distance, coming their way, was a massive train, the Schnee Dust Company logo on the side._

_Wait..._

_Wait..._

_Wait..._

_NOW!_

_They slid down the cliff, zipping towards the tracks._

_She felt they'd gone too early._

_They were going to either slide off the cliff waiting for the right moment or jump onto the tracks in front of the train!_

_Oh... they made it._

_And they sped down the train._

_Yup, the car they chose to enter through was the security center._

_Fighting the robots._

_Oh, they lived._

_Moving up the train._

_Yup, time for the chain scythe._

_*Bang, bang bang bang bang bang*, and Adam used his iaido style and gun with great effect._

_She couldn't escape violently, he'd kill her without too much difficulty, even _with_ her superior speed. He was older, bigger, stronger, had more stamina._

_She didn't stand much chance._

_Oh, they were at the main dust car._

_"Perfect..." Adam half-grinned, half-sneered as he closed the container, "Move up to the next car, I'll set the charges."_

_"What about the crew members? Some of them are faunus too!"_

_Adam frowned heavily, "What about them? We can't save them."_

_Blake ignored the air humming, "Jaune could..." she muttered under her breath._

_"Who?" the air hummed louder, colors started blurring._

_"Jaune Arc! He's kind and noble and strong and even though he's a human he would probably try to stop this train too!"_

_Adam let out a grunt, "Regardless, one man can't change society."_

_"YOU'RE ONE MAN!" Blake was on the brink, she knew it, things were starting to melt, if she pushed much further she would be forced out of the land of dreams._

_"I'm one of three, kit-kat." he turned towards the door, only to jump back, hand on his weapon._

_Standing there was the Spider Droid, its weapons ready to kill the intruders._

_"Adam~!" Blake nearly whined, taking a step back._

_Forward he charged, a man on a mission._

_A mission to kill._

_The battle was hard-fought, but they won in the end, thanks to Adam's semblance, some sort of energy absorption power._

_The world dimmed slightly, having settled down._

_The cat faunus stared at her bull companion from the next car, her eyes filled with sadness._

_Adam slowly reached for his weapon, Blake slowly reached for hers._

_"Goodbye." she said simply, Gambol Shroud in hand._

_The tall, intimidating man raised Blush level with her head, "I knew it'd be you of all people." he said simply, his finger scratching at the trigger, "So what's it gonna be, Blakey?"_

_Suddenly, she was pulled back forcefully._

_*CLANG!* the bullet from Blush was blocked by... something._

_*SHWING* the cart couplet was severed._

_Blake knew this was her chance._

_She fired.  
_

_"GAH!" came the familiar boyish voice._

_She opened her eyes and was surprised to see the unknown force was none other than Jaune, shield raised to defend her._

_And she had shot him in the back._

_He turned around to face her, suddenly weak. He removed his chestplate and looked at the hole left by her bullet, which was still stuck in his muscular chest._

_"Well... looks like thish one'sh on YOU." he said, blood dripping from his mouth as he pulled the bullet out of his chest._

_Then he turned around and jumped the distance between the cars, facing Adam bravely despite having a punctured lung._

_She watched as the air hummed and pulsed and the two men fought._

_Unfortunately, Jaune was not strong enough to face Adam alone._

_She cried out his name._

_"ADAM, NO!"_

* * *

"ADAM, NO!" Roman shouted, one hand on his cane, the other hooked into the handle of a plastic bag.

The bull faunus snorted and let go of the throat of a lousy recruit, "Next time, do NOT get in my way."

The recruit bowed and saluted fearfully, then ran off as fast as he could.

Mask-covered eyes turned towards his human companion, then to the plastic bag in his hand, "You went shopping..." he looked into Roman's eyes, removing his mask and revealing red to the greens, "Why?"

"Can't a guy get some beers for him and his buddy to share?"

Adam relaxed, setting his mask on a nearby table, "Oh, alcohol, why didn't you say so?"

"I _did_ technically, that was the first thing I said." the thief set the bag down and took the twelve-pack out.

"Technically the first thing you said was 'ADAM, NO!' which wasn't exactly fun." Adam used Wilt to cut the cardboard open, taking a can for himself and handing one to Roman.

"Technically you were beating up a recruit and we only have a few of those at the moment." Roman reminded with an eloquence only someone of his level could achieve, cracking his top of his can open.

"Technically you're an asshole." Adam retorted with an eloquence only someone of _his_ level could achieve, cracking the top of his own can open.

"Technically fuck you." the ginger replied with a middle finger and his pinky raised, as fancy as ever, "Cheers."

"Cheers." the brunette tapped his can to Roman's with a small *cling* sound, "Technically did you buy this?"

"Technically I walked into the store, grabbed it, and told the cashier to 'Be a dear and bag this up for me.' and of course she did."

"Technically that was ballsy." the faunus took a sip, setting Wilt and Blush leaning against the table.

"Technically we're using the word technically incorrectly." the human took a sip of his own, setting Melodic Cudgel down next to his friend's weapons.

"Technically that was literal." Adam gazed out around the warehouse.

"Exactly." Roman smirked as he took a puff of his cigarette.

"Good talk, man."

"Cinder is coming next week."

This made Adam blink, "I hate her."

"Me too, pal, me too."

The bull faunus snorted, "No, I'm serious, this is a legitimate and deep-seated, blood-boiling hatred I'm talking about."

"Sounds like you have some issues."

Adam sneered, "She's got her fucking fiery little hands wrapped firmly around our balls, dude. If it wasn't for her and Hank, we'd still be peaceful... and lord knows where Doc is."

"Actually, Hank called him in again, thankfully the dusty fucker never changed his scroll number."

"I'm surprised, he left the week we turned violent."

"AND started getting results~." Roman swirled his can like it was a glass of wine, then took a delicate sip.

"I'd love to protest you and your girly drinking habits and your point, but... the results are too strong to deny, it's like the last five years... out of the fifty... it's..." Adam sighed hard.

"Like the last 10% of the White Fang's existence has gotten 90% of its results?"

"Exactly! But... dammit." the younger man sighed again, 'Even though she left so hastily... and even though I want to hate her... I can't. So optimistic, so hopeful, and yet what did I do? I gassed that beautiful flower until it wilted... I hope she finds a better man than me, assuming she still even cares about love.' a fist came down hard on the table, denting the metal surface.

"Yeesh! Bad thoughts?"

"Yeah..."

"Drown 'em out with more beer, man."

Adam grinned. Despite being a criminal, Roman could be a really friendly guy, and that's what he needed.

A friend...

... he also needed to shotgun about six more of these beers.

* * *

Weiss groaned, her team was insufferable.

Yang was distracted even more than usual by some unknown train of thought. She had nearly walked directly into Weiss while going towards the door.

Blake had yet to speak even one word, just writing in some book.

Ruby was... nowhere to be found, actually!

And the worst thing of all? Weiss had been the last one awake!

Couldn't they have been more responsible? She may have needed her beauty sleep, but everything in moderation!

Regardless, today was the day that Vale City was making preparations for the Vytal Festival, so that was a plus.

Yet it was also a minus, since she had woken up later than she intended this morning.

Well... granted, their first class was still fifty-five minutes away, that barely left her with time to go through her enhanced morning routine.

Why didn't she set an alarm?

* * *

Why were alarms needed?

That was the thought Ruby had as she dug in to her chocolate chip pancakes, a hole cut into the middle of the stack and filled with syrup to ensure that every layer had some.

She was an early riser for sure, her semblance altered a lot of her biological functions, which was how she had eaten her entire first stack of pancakes in under five minutes.

Another thing was her metabolism, which ensured she would stay petite and not get fat from her horribly unbalanced diet of normal portions of normal foods and massive amounts of sweets.

"Be right back, I'm gonna get some more strawberries for my pancakes."

"You're a bottomless pit, Ruby."

"W-well... y-you're a shallow grave!"

"That term... I do not think it means what you think it means."

"Don't be a meanie, Jaune!"

"Don't be a little piggy, Ruby."

_'How in the hell are you keeping decent?'_

'She's only a young girl... I fought alongside her grandmother in the war and several skirmishes.'

_'Oh! So just because you knew Copper Rose means you're willing to be all buddy-buddy with Ruby?'_

'Yes.'

'_I'm going to frickin' MURDER YOU!'_

'Good luck... and I really do mean that, it's your goal to defeat me, and if you failed, then that would have meant I had failed in training your body.'

_'Then why aren't you fueling it?'_

'I'm eating what is necessary, the rest of the energy to work on your cardio will come from the blue aura.'

_'Nice to see the part of the blessing I unlocked isn't going to waste, at least.'_

'Exactly, waste is abhorrent.'

"Want some bacon, Jaune?" Ruby gave a sweet smile to the knight, offering a few of the many strips she had taken.

"No thanks, I'm full." the purple-eyed veteran said as he began to stand.

_'You take that bacon RIGHT NOW!'_

'No.'

_'You're infuriating.'_

'You're of less-than-stellar cardiovascular health.'

"You sure?" the reaper said as she held out a strip.

"Yeah, I have some exercise to do, and overeating will mess it up." he looked at the strip, and decided to spare Jaune some of the hassle, "Buuuuut, one strip couldn't hurt." he took it with a smile, "Thank you, Ruby."

"You're welcome~." she said in a singsong voice, smiling widely.

The knight smiled, walked away, disposed of his tray, and exited the cafeteria.

* * *

Classes had gone by with little to complain about. The entire time, Jebediah had been subtly circulating a mixture of his own aura, as well as John's and Jaune's both through his veins, muscles, and skin, strengthening them all with increased healing and protection, as well as making easier to channel it.

Every aura was different, he could see that just at a glance in the first class, teaching Jaune several things about how semblances interacted with the makeup and abilities of a person's aura.

'You see Ruby's semblance is about speed, her aura would grant her a faster metabolism perhaps, her nervous system may be faster, and several other things are possibly much faster than in the average person.'

_'Please do this "being decent" thing more often.'_

'Shut up, boy. Now then... Weiss' semblance is glyphs, however it's more likely that the structure of her glyphs has more to do the effects on her aura than the glyphs themselves. A snowflake motif... the edges of the snowflake resemble blades, so there's a good chance her aura has a higher offensive capability, and the snow itself implies it is not good at keeping her warm. Snow itself is plentiful and forms thick layers, so her channeling may be better than average, or perhaps she is more able to channel larger amounts of aura as well.'

_'Huh... you have to have some pretty sideways thinking to figure out people's advantages.'_

'Exactly, Blake's semblance is her blinking afterimages, this may imply that her aura is more capable of dispelling non-physical damage and effects, such as being dazed, exhausted, and possibly also poisons and toxins, such as... well... poison, or alcohol, which is useful for sudden emergencies. She could also potentially cool herself off and reduce pain with greater ease.'

_'Why are you focusing so avidly on my friends?'_

'For emergency reasons. Now then, Yang... her semblance is fire-based, so more than likely her body is fireproof, and she may have great resistance to the cold.'

_'She told me herself that she doesn't feel the cold.'_

'Well that's fortunate for her. Let me think... her aura may also be more susceptible to unstable flaring, while this susceptibility will go away with Hunter-level Aura Control, emotional overdrive is a both a boon and a bane for everyone.'

'_Because you can use your semblance at a higher level of power, but you use your aura faster?'_

'Exactly, now take Nora for example, who has a lightning-based semblance.' he turned his head towards Nora, who was playing paper football with Yang, 'Her semblance, as far as I've seen from the glance you've collected, is either random, or infinitely more usefully, an auxiliary semblance, a broad power such as Lightning Power, in which her aura would take on a likeness to, well, guess what, could be extremely useful for an ally to have, but hopefully, we will not have to ever fight her, even though I could easily defeat her with my skills and powers.'

_'So basically just like before: never fight Nora.'_

'I have seen her only, thus far, use it to do mundane things such as toast bread or charge her Scroll.'

'_Nora doesn't have a knack for making a lot of sense...'_ Jaune quickly realized that sounded meaner than he intended,_ "Er, b-but her heart is always in the right place! Even if it doesn't seem that way sometimes... I mean, she had to do _something_ to be Ren's friend since their childhood.'_

'True... speaking of Ren, his semblance is near impossible to figure out, I suppose I could simply ask him after class.'

'_Well... okay.' _Jaune had to admit, he couldn't figure out his fellowman's semblance either, heck he couldn't even figure out _his own_ semblance!

'Pyrrha, her semblance is Polarity, which is just a somewhat pretentious way of saying "magnetism", with most people's armor and weapons being made of metal, it's little wonder how she would be able to win those four tournaments, what with something so overpowered.'

_'So that's two out of eight semblances in our group unknown...'_

'Technically ten out of twelve, given the blessing you hold, you have four more semblances to use, all of which are known.'

'_Pyrrha and I have been trying to figure out _my_ semblance for some time now, but everything just comes up empty...'_

'Well, one day, Jaune, but not today, as I have to train you.'

_'Alright, FINE.'_

'Luckily with my ability to multitask, I've finished the work for the rest of our classes... I have some time to prepare.'

_'Prepare for what?'_

'Cardio.'

* * *

Combat class, everyone's favorite time of the day.

No reports, no homework (except normal training), just fighting and winning.

Or losing, that was also possible.

Not for Cardin Winchester, though, as since he was always paired with the school chump, Jaune Arc, for some reason, he never lost.

Sure it barely meant anything, but he never lost!

"Cardin Winchester versus Jaune Arc." Professor Goodwitch announced, looking up into the crowd, she spotted the massive mace-wielder coming down towards the battlefield.

She looked over to the little spot where the RWBYJNPR group usually sat.

Ren was the first to notice out of the eight of them, then he nudged Pyrrha and pointed towards Jaune's empty seat.

The maroon-haired amazon stood, "Uh, sorry, Miss Goodwitch, it seems Jaune is running late today." she gave a half-hearted smile.

"Very well, for skipping class I suppose I will have to give him a demer-" a shout caught everyone's attention.

"I'm running, alright!" Jebediah shouted as he came down the stairs, Crocea Mors and Sanctus Mendax clasped to his waist.

The RWBY(J)NPR group stared at his new attire.

He looked a little silly in his current attire: A black sun visor cap. An orange t-shirt with two lines of black text, reading 'I bust mine, So I can kick yours.', and the pits and neck slightly sweat-soaked. Black running shorts with two stripes down the sides of the legs, the words 'One more lap' between the stripes. Black and orange running shoes. His armor plates strapped to his shirt, or in the case of his bracer and shinguards, to his bare skin, and Crocea Mors in Sanctus Mendax clipped onto the side of his shorts' waistband.

"Sorry I'm late, got caught up running and nearly forgot about class." he apologized, now on the battlefield floor with his weapons drawn, running in place, "Now then, Cardin, let's hurry this up, I have a few more laps to run."

Cardin snarled while many of their fellow classmates began whispering, the rumor mill already hard at work.

"Big talk, Arc, you think you can take me so easily?" the larger boy challenged while bringing his mace up to rest on his shoulder.

"Small talk, big action." Jebediah turned to Glynda, "Professor? Please start the match." he continued to jog in place.

The lights around the arena dimmed a bit.

Glynda seemed to disappear from sight.

Jebediah smirked.

Cardin sneered.

Hologram numbers appeared.

_3_

_2_

_1_

_GO!_

* * *

**I swear this chapter did NOT want to get completed.**

**Many plot lines have been opened, I hope I can keep track of them all, haha.**

**Jebediah d'Arcsehole **

**Yang: I approve of that pun!**

**Jaune: I do not approve of him**

**Me: Don't worry, Jaune, you'll get your chance in this 3-parter's finale.**

**OOPS! Spoilers (but it was hinted anyways)**

**See you all in the next chapter!**

**Hope you liked it! Favorite and review the story.**

**Have a nice day.**

**Next up: Stray Thoughts and Checkered Dreams, pt 2/3**


	10. Stray Thoughts and Checkered Dreams p2

**Where did it go? Our peaceful youth, seems to be LOST forever~!**

**Seriously, life has been hell on me these past few months. My writing schedule has been "Get it done before Septembe-oh it's already September, okay well get it done before Octob-oh, wait, already October, how about Novem-nope, okay Dece-sorry, time ain't helping you, fuckboi." and so I'm just going to get this in before it's been a full goddamn year since the last update.**

**I am now calling full canon diversity, Lunar Legends canon divergence! Some developments I've made and many I've planned will heavily conflict with canon so I'm just gonna say CD and be done with it.**

**And now we're getting into the reading the chapter~!**

**So here we go, finally into the double digits!**

**Chapter 10: Stray Thoughts and Checkered Dreams, pt 2/3**

* * *

Cardin charged in with his mace ready to come and launch the smaller knight into the wall.

Jebediah smirked as the explosive weapon smacked into a projected forcefield, then he let out a loud battlecry and slashed at Cardin's exposed underarmor, a few very hard slashes knocking his aura into the yellow.

With a single powerful shield bash, in which Sanctus Mendax was covered in a lavender glow, the mace-wielder was knocked back into the arena wall, the alarm going off that he was in the red.

"Your opening move not only failed but was used against you to finish you off, pretty bad way to go." Jebediah said as he compressed Sanctus Mendax back into its sheathe form, then sheathed Crocea Mors, "I've improved a lot, Cardin, and I can see that you haven't." he sighed and adjusted his shorts, then leaped up the twelve-foot wall, past the deactivated barrier, and landed in front of the RWBYNPR group, handing his sheathed sword and armor, which he'd undone in only a few seconds, to Ruby, "Ruby, be a friend a put these away in my locker for me, okay?"

The reaper smiled and took them with glee, "Alright, friend!" she gave him a salute.

Noting the odd looks from the others, as well as a heavy addition of pride to Pyrrha's gaze, he smiled and pat her on the head, "Thank you, Pyrrha." he turned to Yang and gave her a hesitant smile, "And thank you, Yang." he chuckled and looked around the stands, "Okay well since my fight is done, I'll be leaving then!" and with that, he jogged up the steps and out of the building.

Nobody protested, but the rumor mill was hard at work.

Glynda watched as Jaune left, seeing the various reactions of everyone to the very brief fight, "W-well... Mister Winchester, you're the loser. Return to your seat."

Cardin groaned as he felt something in his mind snap, an empty feeling creeping up his consciousness as he pulled himself out of the wall, an outline of his body comically broken into it, though a bit scarily, there was a spider-web of cracks around it.

Nobody had expected such strength out of the Arc heir, and opinions were being changed left and right.

The biggest changes, however, came from the RWBYNPR group.

Ruby smiled and stood up to go put away Jaune's equipment. She was filled with glee at the fact that she had helped. Even though he hadn't even been touched on his armor, she could tell that the extra protection had given him a boost of confidence, and the kiss they had shared had no-doubt helped even further. She had been a good friend, and now she would continue that friendly favor and put away Jaune's armor and weapons.

Weiss was honestly impressed. Jaune had gone from chump to champ in about a month, and rather than getting his ass handed to him on a silver platter, he had defeated Cardin in less than fifteen seconds. There was also the matter that, if the meters red correctly, his aura was either still completely full, or had increased and improved enough to not go below his previous limit. Whatever it was, she had to say she was impressed.

Blake remained silent, but also had to admit that she was impressed. Jaune had been no-nonsense and efficient, dealing with Cardin with what could nearly be considered extreme prejudice. She knew why the swordsman had a distaste for the mace-wielder, he hated the anti-Faunus attitude and wished to convince Cardin otherwise, one of the things she had noted from her skimming through Jaune's journal.

Yang caught herself before she started drooling. The moves, the power, the taunt, she knew she'd done well... she just needed to talk to Jaune, apologize, clear things up, and maybe... maybe she'd get him. She still had a chance, Jaune was a forgiving guy, after all.

Nora was entranced by Jaune's epicness, and how he had basically no-sold Cardin's attempts to smash him! In fact, Jaune turned it around and smashed Cardin! She giggled at the imprint of Cardin in the arena wall, but then she thought, 'I could teach Jaune more about smashing people! And he could teach me some defenseses, he's _really _good at defenseses, and I think even Pyrrhy could learn something like a FRACKING AURA FORCEFIELD! That would be SO COOL!'

Pyrrha smiled proudly, Jaune had grown immensely, but she couldn't help but have a nagging feeling that something was wrong... but what was it? Jaune had been serious, definitely, but there was something about that seriousness that put her off, yet she couldn't decipher it. Regardless, she knew.

Something was up with Jaune.

And lastly, Lie Ren, the resident 'other guy' to the RWBYJNPR group, or at least that's how it seemed. He didn't really mind, in fact he was glad Jaune was taking the spotlight, as the spotlight didn't suit Ren's goals, the goals of upholding HIS family legacy.

Martials arts were meant to be kept as arts, as things one must learn through long, arduous, painful, but enlightening training. Meanwhile a knight such as Jaune would be awash in reputation and good history. Now of course, Ren wasn't a stick-in-the-mud that only knew tradition, and as a Hunter, he would need to build some reputation to precede him, just not _as much_, or maybe fame along a different frequency...

He was digressing! His main concern was WHO was watching that spotlight Jaune was under, namely their six female companions, two of which were on their team. Ren knew Jaune's goals of being akin to a traditional hero. He would face challenges that might overwhelm him and he would have to resort to methods he might not be physically, mentally, or morally comfortable with.

And then there was the matter of love, of infatuation, attraction, and charm.

Fortune had many faces when it came to Jaune's massive charisma. Ren knew those looks, realization that slowly turned into desire and hunger, blooming in various degrees across the faces of the six huntresses-in-training, and he had to make sure Jaune would be ready for when fortune struck!

"Lie Ren versus Sky Lark." Glynda announced, cutting through the green gunman's train of thought.

'Why NOW~?' was Ren's only thought before making his way down to the arena in slight frustration.

He wouldn't lose his temper, he wouldn't go for a quick execution, he wouldn't hurry this the fuck up to go make sure Jaune was informed and thus wouldn't stumble around this blind.

He wouldn't.

He wouldn't!

HE WOULDN'T!

...

Sky Lark groaned as he pulled himself out of the wall, looking at the departing Lie Ren as he practically sprinted up the stairs. He had NO idea what just happened... well actually he knew EXACTLY what just happened. Ren had charged up guns blazing, taking Sky down to 60% aura pretty quickly, then delivered a kick that he KNEW had to have been massively aura empowered. Sky was on 25% aura and Ren was on 30% at the end of it.

Glynda blinked, noticing a trend starting to show.

* * *

Jebediah smirked as he flew about ten feet off the ground, Crocea Mors' greatsword form reaching down at an angle and ending about three feet from the ground, he was killing Beowolves, slicing Boarbatusks, and even dealing with the occasional Sabertooth.

He stopped when he heard a hissing sound, "Crypt Keeper." he muttered venomously, ready to teach Jaune about the 'Menace on every map'

_'Crypt Keeper? Sounds pretty dangerous.'_

'They are, they're spider-like Grimm who are as diverse as they are intelligent, some even learn how to act as cavalry!'

_'Goddamn... that's ridiculous!'_

'It is, they come in many forms and each is armed to kill, the way to tell them apart is by the color of the saliva dripping from their fangs, the secondary markings on their carapaces, and the hue of the dark claws tipping each leg.'

'_Wow... so what are they?'_

'Hold on!' suddenly, lunging towards the floating knight from somehow hiding out of sight, a four-foot-tall, seven-foot-long massive spider with white Grimm-plate covering its head, abdomen, and thorax. Its four eyes were the normal burning-red color of the Grimm, and broad, simple, burning-red marks had formed along the edges of its back plate. In addition to the burning-red, there were also some smooth toxic-green markings up the middle of its back. 'It's a Gut Wrencher!'

_'A Gut Wrencher?'_

Suddenly the Gut Wrencher Crypt Keeper spat a sizzling, roiling toxic-green fluid at the floating knight, who ducked out of the way just in time for the spray to coat the tree behind him. He turned to look at it, even though he knew what it was.

The bark and wood of the tree began hissing and melting from the acid they'd been coated with.

'It's not very old, so its acid is weaker, but beware because it's still acid and it will still try to melt your face, body, and especially your weapons.'

_'Please tell me these things have a weakness!'_

'They're glass cannons, Jaune, because Grimm or not, they're still spiders the size of small cars, and spiders the size of small cars are incredibly less durable than small cars.'

_'So we'll be fine?'_

'To the inexperienced, they can spell doom, to the veterans...' rather than tell, Jebediah decided to show Jaune what the 'veterans' can do.

With great strength, he grabbed one of the Crypt Keeper's legs and ripped it off at the second joint, grabbing the stump and pulling the beast off the tree against its wishes. It hissed and spat another glob of acid that sizzled against the solidified forcefield on Jaune's chest. With both arms, he swung it around and down, slamming the brittle beast onto the ground, cracking its carapace before dropping down for a powerful stomp that splattered its rapidly dissipating guts all over the forest floor in a moderate radius

Though only slightly acidic, there was obvious damage to the trees, grass, and shrubbery, and so Jebediah paused on the bare dirt, then floated a few inches above it and reached out with Jaune's blue aura.

To the young man's amazement, the grass began regrowing quickly and the damage healed significantly. He heard something.

"To shrouded light, remove the darkness, dear shining light, cast away the darkness, lux aeterna, conflet anima, be blessed with safety from the darkness of the world, let strength fill you 'til you can't be hurt, and one day let the angels' wings unfurl." Jebediah chanted, and he felt the reserves of white aura drain rapidly, but then...

Then he opened his eyes and showed Jaune what he'd done.

It was extremely subtle, only noticeable if you were looking, but the plants around him were glowing softly.

'_Did you just unlock the aura of these plants?'_

'I did... I used the chant that was used to unlock my own aura, and now I have given these plants, if only a small measure, a defense against whatever cruelties nature may throw at them.'

_'That's... really nice.'_

'I did not get to be known as Jebediah Arc, the Shield of the People and the Armor of the Innocent, by being a bad person.'

'_What were those words? Lux aeterna, conflet anima?'_

'The intended meaning is "Eternal light, fan the flames of the soul", though you could say "conflet anima" means "fan the soul flames", both are valid translations.'

'_Right... what now?'_

'Now... we've worked on stamina, we've worked on speed, we've increased your Grimm Kill Count, so now... how about a break?'

* * *

The RWBYNPR group had been running on a high. To their incredible amusement, and the incredible expense of team CRDL, all four members of Team JNPR had launched all four members of Team CRDL, in order of initials, in a line on the Combat Arena wall, making comical outlines of them.

It was definitely a moment that would go down in Beacon's history.

Speaking of history...

"And that is how my great great great great great grandmother assassinated the king of South Mistral." Fenerion finished, his green eyes glinting with mirth as he took a sip of his coffee

Teams RWBY and FLRE were traveling through the city together, just on a friendly outing

"Soooooo cooooool~, I feel bad for anyone who had to miss the story." Ruby said, immersed in the tale of the ancient killer.

"Yes, it is quite an interesting tale... made more interesting by the fact that I know it, but I hardly know of my own mother." the raven-haired man went quiet, but then cleared his throat, "Eh~... but _that_ isn't a good, how you say~, topic of conversation." he turned to Luke, "Why don't you spin us a tale of your heroics?"

"I am an honorable knight who need not toot his own horn, friend, I'll let the rumor mill speak of my respectable actions for me." Luke smiled under his helmet.

While students generally weren't allowed to not wear or disturb the uniform dress code, they were allowed to make additions that followed some unknown guidelines.

This counted things like Ruby's cloak, Blake's bow, Yang's compressed gauntlets...

... aaaaaaand Luke's chainmail and helmet.

THAT was a sight to behold walking around the school grounds.

Speaking of grounds...

... they had stopped by a coffee shop on their way to the docks.

Weiss sighed softly, then took in a breath of air, smelling food, masonry, vehicular exhaust, the plastic of balloons and banners, a mixture of colognes and perfumes of the many people walking about, and all manner of other scents in the area.

To her, the mixture smelled wonderful.

"Haaaaaahhhh~, the Vytal Festival!" she began smiling widely, "Oh this is absolutely wonderful!" her icy-blue eyes sparkled with life.

Ruby was the first to speak up, "Weiss, you're acting kinda weird..."

The white-haired heiress turned to her partner, "Weird HOW Ruby?" her tone was bright, but confused.

"You're all smiley and cheerful and stuffs and it's so unlike you and it's kinda weirding me out." the silver-eyed reaper clarified.

"I do believe the weirdest thing about this situation is that half of us are dressed casually, yet all of us are armed." Luke offered.

That was also true.

Ruby was the first one dressed in such a way. She wore a black denim jacket half-buttoned and with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, a crimson tank-top with a white Scatter on the belly, a crimson combat skirt with silver vine-like leafy designs circling the hem and tail, her black skinny jeans with red stitching, and her black and red Subtractas Superstars. The only thing she wore from her normal outfit was her cloak.

Next was Blake, wearing a thin purple scarf, a black leather jacket with her Nightshade on the back in gray, an amethyst-purple t-shirt under that, black leather pants, and short black boots. The only thing she wore from her normal outfit was her bow.

On FLRE's side, Fenerion was casually dressed in a crimson button-up long-sleeved shirt, an unzipped black hoodie with the peaked hood up, an upside-down lower-cased-y shaped bandoleer set with a dozen small throwing knives on it, his twin bracers, and his beast-mouth bandanna (which was down to reveal his scarred lip and his short black facial hair). His black designer jeans were supported by a wide, thick, brown leather belt, his mace, shortsword, and kama all strapped to it.

Luke was the final person dressed casually, and his attire was both odd, yet fitting for him. In addition to his helmet, he also wore a navy-blue sweater, his menacing black gauntlets, gray cargo pants, and black calf-high combat boots.

"Regardless, it's impossible to NOT smile." Weiss said quickly, getting the group back on track, "The Vytal Festival is wonderful, it's dedicated to all of the cultures of the world!" Weiss nearly swooned, "There will be dances, parades, a tournament! Oh the amount of planning and dedication that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!" the fencer walked with a skip in her step.

Yang cringed a bit, "WOW... you really know how to take something cool and make it sound boring, Weiss." she crossed her arms under her breasts, which looked smaller than they actually were now that they, along with the rest of her upper body, were inside her oversized orange hoodie, which the others had questioned at first, but were simply told 'I found it and it looked cool' and dropped the subject. Since their arrival in the city, though, the usually boisterous and loud girl had taken to looking around and the festival decorations with a very slight air of shyness about her.

Weiss' eyes narrowed a slight bit, and she halfway looked back at Yang, "Quiet you." her tone irritated, but not letting Yang's comment get to her.

Yang very slightly cringed away, "S-sorry." she looked away, feeling oddly shy, 'What is wrong with me? I mean... ever since I talked to Jade and Juicia, I've been feeling... off... I haven't seen Jaune since combat class... he looked so... professional, and strong, and skilled... and I want that. I like him, dare I say I've even started falling in love with him, I just... want to know why he said all that stuff...'

While Weiss happily continued onward, Ruby looked at Yang with a concerned expression. While most would assume she was simply looking at the sights, Ruby was an emotionally insightful person and knew there was a problem there. Leaning up, she whispered in Yang's ear, "Sis, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm just... not feeling it today." the blonde waved off with a hesitant tone.

"Not feeling what?" the silver-eyed huntress pressed on.

"Not...*sigh*... not feeling a sense of not being confused, and of wanting to bash all my problems in the face."

"Oh... maybe we can get you some ice cream to cheer you up?" the younger sister offered with a sweet, kind smile.

"Hehe, you know me too well, little sister." Yang smiled once more as she ruffled Ruby's hair a little bit.

"Hey everyone, me and Yang are gonna go do a thing and we'll be back in a bit okay?" the little reaper announced quickly.

"Be careful." was the response of all of Team FLRE at once.

Blake glanced at the four boys before turning to Ruby, giving a small shrug, "Okay."

Weiss looked back at Yang as well, "Don't break anything." despite her cold tone, there was a lack of edge in her voice, subtle as it may have been.

Yang smiled at the others, "Alright, let's go sis." the two sisters took off in a different direction from the group.

The remaining group, B(R)WLF(Y)RE (Brawl-Fire, as Ruby had affectionately named them), continued towards the docks.

They walked.

And walked.

And walked.

And wa-"So how're the love lives going? Got anyone special?" Raiden's question cut through the peaceful silence like a hot sword through a watermelon.

Weiss went wide-eyed and nearly started stuttering in embarrassment as her pale cheeks reddened significantly, "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious really." the swordsman said with a shrug.

Blake felt a heavy blush spread across her cheeks, like blood had been poured all over her pale flesh "I've looked at a guy, he's a poet and an artist and I find him attractive." her words held a tone of 'I'm not saying another word'.

Weiss was in a similar situation, her cheeks doing a good impersonation of a pair of tomatoes "I have looked at a guy as well, he is a religious man with a good heart and I find him attractive." her words also held the same tone of 'I'm not saying another word'

Raiden's eyes narrowed slightly, but he let the girls get away with their tight lipped answers, but he knew...

He knew they were both talking about Jaune.

And he felt like something big would come of this.

He only hoped Jaune would be prepared.

* * *

"Well well well~, Mister Arc, I hope you're prepared." a nasally male voice said as the man to whom the voice belonged pulled out a tin of mints, chewing a couple of them, and then snorting a packet of pepper, sneezing messily on the concrete roof of the building he was standing on top of, "Gah, much better." he blew his nose into a few napkins he'd stolen from a nearby restaurant.

Despite his otherwise boorish attitude and disgusting habits, this man, Agent 4: 'Dark Runner', was in the top five agents of Master Kain's forces.

He was trailed by Agent 5: Ethereal Terror, and was led by Agent 3: Combat Specialist, Agent 2: Brotherhood Revolt, and Agent 1: Authoritative Assertion.

Conveniently, they were known in short as E5, D4, C3, B2, and A1.

**"Have you made sure your Constellation Bottle is on your person, Keith?"**

"YES, Sig, I do, shut up." D4, AKA Keith to most, told the purple figure at his side.

**"Your power is most useful, I must admit, mainly because I have a sense of pride."**

"Yes yes yes now use your dark powers to help me find this blonde asshole."

**"Would you like me to find his head as well?"**

"If we're supposed to believe the boss, the latter is up the former."

**"Well my job is a lot easier then." **the purple figure chuckled.

Now, Keith had a pretty unique semblance, Darkness Guardian, a physical manifestation of his own creativity and negative emotions, mostly snark and banter.

Lots and lots and LOTS of snark and banter.

In addition to being a second mind to assess situations twice as fast, the young man's creation also came with a host of various powers.

Like for instance the power that allowed him to view things as if the shadows were a network of eyes.

Which is what he was just using.

To view Jaune Arc.

...

On the streets below, Jebediah had taken Jaune's body into town for a little shopping trip.

_'What are we doing?'_

'While I cycle our aura through our body and burn waste for more energy, you will be picking out clothes... holy fuck it's still here.'

_'What's still here?'_

'_Fil de Desir_, Thread of Desire, a clothing store my cousin opened in Vale a scant forty nine years ago... wait maybe it's fifty now, I can't recall the exact date it was founded.'

_'Wait... you have a cousin?'_

'Well, one thing you would not realize is that our progenitor, Jacques, my grandfather, had many wives, however the first one to bear a son is Jack's mother, thus how he is the one to bear the blessing.'

'_...'_

'What?'

_'Are you serious?'_

'No I'm Jebediah.'

_'Ffffffffuck you, that was terrible... but if what you're saying is true, then...'_

'Then what?'

_'Then we really DO have a lot of charisma!'_

'...'

'_What?'_

'Are you serious?'

_'No I'm Jaune.'_

'... okay I walked right into that... but YES, we have a lot of charisma, just watch.'

'_Wait what?'_

Jebediah walked through the front door

* * *

Awww yush.

This was it.

The hat she'd been looking for.

She put on the black beret and looked at herself in the mirror.

Her voice was quiet, but regardless... "BOOM! Bulging boxers all around." Coco giggled to herself, pouting her lips, then making a kissy-face, and just generally admiring herself in the mirror.

She loved this store, though she could do without the old man who owned the store staring at her.

After a minute or two of some light posing, she quickly grew bored.

As the huntress-in-training lowered her stylish sunglasses to gaze around the store, she saw a yellow-topped head walking in the door.

Out of her new-found boredom, she decided to follow the tall figure. She ducked a little and made her way closer, keeping an eye out for him or her.

'That blonde hair is too yellow for it to be Professor Goodwitch, and she's the only woman I've see who's THAT tall... hmmmm~, it couldn't be that Yang girl from that team RWBY Velv talks about, she's tall, but not tall enough to tower over the racks.'

She watched with slowly widening eyes as they handsome blonde boy came into view, 'It's that guy that beat the fuck out of that Cardin asshole earlier! Damn that was cool... is he talking to the owner?' she made her way a little bit closer.

* * *

"It's good to see you again, cousin~." Jebediah greeted with open arms and a smile.

Antoine Arc narrowed his eyes slightly, unsure who this young blonde man was, but slowly realization set in, and it clicked when his eyes fell to Crocea Mors.

"J-Jebediah? But... wait, you died!" the gray-haired man said in confusion.

"The blessing our grandfather gave my line? Ring any bells?"

"The spirit of the moon?"

"Exactly, you little munchkin." Jebediah chuckled.

"I haven't talked to you since you died, you old coot!"

"Well, death tends to render most speechless."

_'Question... what is going on?'_

'I'm having a pleasant conversation with my cousin through your body.'

'_Is your whole point to convince me you're a jackass and then work endlessly to convince me otherwise?'_

'It might be a side effect of my coming to realize that I missed being alive.'

_'Well too bad! You might be being friendly to others, but you haven't even TRIED to reconnect with Yang, and for that, the second I get the chance, I'm going to kill you dead! Nobody messes with my friends, not even my dead grandfather! Ya hear me, ya sonuvabitch?!'_

'Don't talk about my mother that way!'

"Are you alright cousin?" Antoine asked, shaking Jaune's shoulder.

"Ah, yes, yes, sorry, it's Jaune, he's a fine young man, just like his father, but I made a terrible first impression and he wishes to kill me."

"Hehe, you were always bad at first impressions." the gray-haired man laughed, mirth filling his cyan eyes and deep voice

"True..." Jebediah sighed heavily, brow furrowed and shoulders shaking slightly.

"It seems we have a audience, Jeb." cyan eyes glanced over at the watching Coco, "She's a pretty one, comes here often, go talk to her for the lad."

"Fine, I suppose I do owe him that much after the trouble I've caused him." purple eyes gained an unassuming gleam as the veteran turned, "Right well I'll just look around then." he said a bit loudly.

Coco quickly ducked out of view, trying her best to look inconspicuous.

Jebediah approached, milling through the racks in the 'Hunter' section in an attempt to find something functional.

"Well hey there~." the brunette greeted with a smile as she came into view, her bag on her side and her hands on her hips.

_'Okay... killing you later, but for now? Whoa! Damn, she's gorgeous, and that smile is amazing.'_

"Hehe, hi there." the purple-eyed veteran greeted back with a relaxed chuckle, returning her warm smile with his own charming one.

Coco's cheeks began turning pink when she looked at that smile, "Nice to meet you, cutie, the name's Coco, and you?"

"Jaune, Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue." he chuckled a little more.

"Oh! My teammate Velvet's told me about you... sad she didn't mention your tastefulness, at least I guess you're tasteful, if you're coming to _Fil de Desir."_

He smiled wider at that, "Oh I'm tasteful, sweet, salty, sour, spicy, and bitter, though I try to avoid the last two."

Coco laughed, the sweet, rich, strong, invigorating sound flowed through the air like, well... like hot cocoa.

"Velvet mentioned her beautiful leader, but she didn't mention she had such a nice laugh."

The brown-eyed woman's cheeks reddened immensely, "Well Velvet mentioned the handsome knight that protected her from the bullies, but she never mentioned he was so witty."

"Witty? Nah. Gritty? A little, though I prefer to heal than to harm."

'Spoken like a gentleman, nice.' Coco thought as her laughter died down, "So, what brings the healer to _Fil de_ Desir?"

"Well despite what you might think, I didn't come here to flirt, I actually came here because my current clothes are a bit too small." he punctuated his statement by flexing his arm, causing a few light tearing sounds of threads to emanate from the sleeve, "In addition, since my 18th birthday is coming up next month, and I'm exchanging boyhood for manhood, I also need to exchange these boy's clothes for man's clothes, if you catch my drift?"

"Well I can help you with _that_, Jaune, I'm something of an expert."

"Your assistance would be most appreciated, Miss Coco." the sincerity in his tone was sweet to her.

And so she led him through the store.

A decent while later, Jaune stood in front of the mirrors in a brand new outfit.

A black leather jacket with black metal buttons, a gray hoodie with a gold zipper underneath the jacket, an orange t-shirt under the hoodie, and pale blue metal armor on top of his shoulders and on his forearms. Dark blue jeans with his belts crossed over them, an ivory belt with a gold buckle supporting his pants, pale blue metal shinguards, and black combat boots. His normal gloves fit well with the outfit, though the metal plates were replaced with pale blue ones. Jebediah smiled, reacting like Jaune would, "This looks AWESOME!"

"I knew you'd feel that way. Everyone has their own desired color scheme, and they can be quite flexible to an expert like myself. The armor is cyan alloy, it's slightly stronger than gray alloy, it's cold to the touch, and you'll notice that it keeps the heat out. If you're wondering where I got it... Antoine deals heavily with Hunter clothing, which is why I shop here so often. Fashion and function brought together." the heavy-hitter smirked, but received a pleasant surprise.

He gently grasped her hands, "Thank you, Coco, this is incredible." there was an immense gratitude and sincerity painted across his expression.

Coco found herself on the receiving end of an epic blush, the same kind she usually dealt to her fellows with her teasing and aloof attitude combined with a beauty that could have landed her on the cover of any magazine she pleased. Now she was gazing at a face worthy of the covers of history books.

The good history books! The ones that showed weapons and battles and uniforms and all that, not the boring lecture shit!

She had a moment of realization, "Hold that thought." she took her hands back and sped off, fighting the urge to leap through the high-quality store like a giddy schoolgirl, despite those two words being extremely accurate.

Acquiring the accessory, she sped back over and set it on Jaune's face. The young man blinked, removing the item.

A pair of half-moon reading glasses with gold wire frames

He put it back on, smiling, "How do I look." his eyes turned down to the blushing Coco.

The normally composed second-year spluttered to form words, "G-good god... uh... it's... like... uh..." her senses came down from being overloaded by the handsomeness and her sight focused on the now dejected-looking Jebediah.

Jebediah sighed as he gave a quarter turn away from her, repeating Jaune's words, "It's bad isn't it?... I knew it, I'll never be some sort of... super-hunk or whatever, I'm just-"

"Fucking GORGEOUS!" the coffee-eyed huntress nearly shouted as she grabbed the blonde by his shoulders and shook him a little, "Listen... I need to know one thing from you, Jaune..."

"What's that?" the purple-eyed veteran queried, blushing slightly at the technically-older girl's loud compliment.

"Do you play video games?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever played _Team Fortress 2_?"

"No..." Jebediah looked at her sideways.

"I will teach you how to play."

"Well..." he paused for a few seconds, thinking about it.

_'Go for it!'_

'Ugh, you fool, you stretch yourself out trying to make all these girls happy and you'll tear yourself apart at some point.'

_'It's just playing video games!'_

'Fine... but only because I owe you after... Miss Xiao Long.'

_'Her name is Yang.'_ Jaune's tone was nearly condescending.

'Nice to see you're finally growing a spine.' Jebediah smiled both internally and externally, "I'd like that, Miss Coco."

"Dude... just call me Coco, no 'Miss' about it, because I'm only like, one year older than you... but HEY~! YEAH~! We're gonna play some _TF2_! Alright, my Steam name is H0tCh0c0lead." she wrote it down so as to both avoid having to explain how it's spelled and to also add her scroll number underneath it, along with her actual name.

"Thank you, M-I mean, Coco, I'll be sure to, uh..." he looked up from the paper at her, "Get to that as soon as possible."

The heavy-weapons girl grinned happily, "Sounds lovely." she giggled a little, "Now come on, lover boy, get out of those clothes and let's go pay for this quality fashion design."

"Alright then..." Jebediah quickly stepped back over to the changing room he'd left Jaune's normal clothes in and changed in only a few seconds thanks to a quick use of his semblance, and stepped out again with a smile.

Coco smiled warmly as she stood atop the low platform in front of the mirrors, "Still handsome, I see." the fashion lover giggled with a tone halfway between teasing and reassuring.

"I didn't change." he paused for half a second, realization lighting up his eyes, "I mean I DID _change,_ but... oh~ you know what I mean."

Her laugh was like music to Jaune's ears, and they made their way to the counter.

"Well, a full ensemble, it looks _intelligent_, nephew." the elderly man mused, putting a french accent on intelligent, "For family, half price." he chuckled a little and rang both the new outfit and Coco's beret together.

Coffee-brown eyes were wide as dinnerplates, 'He's related to the owner? Holy shit... and he's gonna... oh yush, I need to know more... but first... I need to leave while giving him the right message...'

A bag was placed into her hand, "Here you go, Coco, all nice and paid for." the knight smiled at her softly and kindly.

The huntress-in-training took the bag, 'Damn he's nice...' she smirked as she turned and started walking away while giving a honeyed giggle.

The blonde watched the finely dressed young woman walk away with a little sashay, blinking in a bit of confusion, 'Dammit... we were played like a trumpet!'

_'Or maybe we follow her?'_

'I don't know! All you kids nowadays are so confusing!'

Two minds watched Coco reach the dark glass of the door, then turn her head back at the boy, mouthing to him 'Call me.' while holding her hand to her head like a phone, before giving a slick grin and blowing him a kiss and walking out.

...

"Red as the beast's eyes, I'd say." Antoine mused, chuckling heartily as he held a magnifying glass to Jaune's cheek.

The hand was swatted away forcefully, "Dammit cousin, shut up! Kids nowadays, so promiscuous that I cry inside." he sighed heavily, "I do believe that I'm done here... see you later, cousin."

"Maybe we could go bowling sometime?"

The cyan-eyed Arc was given no acknowledgement as the door firmly shut.

"Aww~..."

* * *

"So do you wanna talk about it?" the reaper asked innocently through a bite of her strawberry sundae.

"Not really, no." the brawler replied before eating a spoonful of orange sherbet.

"You gotta talk sometime, sis, I won't stop until you feel better!" to emphasize her statement, Ruby squeezed her beloved sister into a hug.

Yang couldn't help but smile a bit. Ruby's bright, cheerful, life-giving happiness was irrefutable, and she felt a little lighter and a little more relaxed with each passing second of the hug. She took in a deep breath, she didn't want to talk about it for obvious reasons.

The reason was that she was upset because of Jaune claiming to not be looking for love, a claim that threatened to break her heart.

What could have happened in his life that would make him so opposed to a serious relationship?

She knew that his attempts at flirting with Weiss were all just talk, a way to make her feel better by knowing she was desirable, and that he had extreme doubts about Weiss ever actually _wanting_ to accept him.

... well that was Weiss' loss, then..." Yang sighed lightly, unaware she had spoken her last thought out loud.

"What's Weiss' loss? Did she lose something? Is she why you're upset?" the red-clad huntress-in-training guessed.

"No... no... no... it's not Weiss. It's someone else entirely." Yang mentally groaned, her sister was precious, adorable, enlightening, and incredibly endearing, but her hyperactive initiative was sometimes annoying.

"Is it Blake?" Ruby guessed again, unknowingly proving her sister's internal point.

"No it's not Blake, think more blond-GAH!" Yang let out a yelp as someone bumped into her while running past.

"SORRY!" the blonde monkey faunus shouted back at the two as he kept running, a pair of police officers chasing after him.

"Was it THAT guy?" the reaper said while helping her sister steady herself, pointing at the retreating blonde boy.

"I don't even KNOW that guy!" the brawler said while crossing his arms, grumbling "At least he said sorry..." under her breath.

"Is it Jaune?"

"Yes i-NO! It's not Jaune! At least... not entirely..." sun-kissed cheeks reddened in embarrassed, "It's partially Jaune... it's mostly me..."

"You're worried about him, aren't you?" Ruby mused, not so much asking as she was stating what she knew was true, "We've hardly seen him for the past couple of days, I'm worried too." her silver eyes were filled with hopeful thoughts, but that hope was slowly fading.

"No I'm not-I mean yes but-I mean... dammit sis he was... he was very infuriating... he's always implied before that he wants to find a nice girl and get together and be in love and have a family, but..." the brawler trailed off, feeling a pang of fear in her heart.

"He said he didn't want you?"

"He wasn't NEARLY that specific... he said he didn't want _anyone_, like, _anyone anyone,_ complete solitude. It was weird and it worried me, because he's never acted like that before." Yang's words were tinged with regret. She

"Is Jaune on drugs?" Ruby asked mostly herself, her eyes moistening with liquid worry and concern, "Nuuuuu~, Jaune isn't that mean... and he can't be on drugs, he's clean." she pouted in protest to the implications.

"I'm not sure it's that, sis." the blonde offered awkwardly while running a hand through her own hair, before she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

Something cold, wet, and sticky was in her hair.

Her orange sherbet...

Her orange sherbet was in her hair, splattered when that faunus boy forcefully bumped into her.

Bright lilac purple eyes blinked into fiery crimson red.

"He... messed up... MY HAIR!" she took off down the street, her anger causing her aura to flare dangerously.

Ruby sped after her older sister, worry prominent in her silver eyes as she caught sight of the flaming tracks of her sister's footsteps.

* * *

"I feel like we've missed something." Fenerion mused as the group reached the docks.

"We might be a bit misplaced." Raiden chimed in, stroking his chin as he gazed down from their position over the massive lower area, eyeing the large cargo ship docked there, humming in intrigue and reminiscing days long gone.

"Or the cool stuff is misplaced." Evan shrugged with his words, looking around, "Like that crime scene over there."

At the brunette's words, everyone's attention shifted to an obviously broken-into Dust shop.

Six pairs of feet approached the store, their owners now filled with curiosity.

When they were close enough, Evan spoke up to the bearded police officer who was writing down some information, "Uh, *ahem* hello officer, what happened here?"

Officer Burns looked at the group, noting the diverse appearance and the presence of faunus through his trained eyes. As he finished writing down the details on the scene, he turned to them, "Robbery." he stated simply with a frown, "Second Dust shop to be hit this week." he turned and walked towards the broken window, muttering not-so-quietly "This place is turning into a jungle."

"They left all the money again." Officer Heyman said, briefly glancing back at the students.

"Yeeeah~, just doesn't make a lick'a sense." the bearded officer mused, his pistol in his hand, "Who needs that much Dust?"

"I dunno, y'naw'mean?" the scruffy-haired officer stated with a small shrug.

"You thinkin' the uh, White Fang?" Burns drew circles with his pistol as he spoke, an old habit.

"Yeah I'm thinkin' we don't get paid enough." Heyman joked lightly, removing his shades and wiping his forehead.

As the two P.O.s fell into silence, they quietly watched the gathered Beaconites, listening carefully. It was common practice to 'accidentally' spill some information about a crime in front of aspiring Hunters and see how they reacted.

Sadly, these were first-years.

"Hmph, the White Fang, what an awful bunch of degenerates." Weiss crossed her arms with a frown crossing her face.

Blake's bow gave a tiny twitch as she turned her head towards the heiress, "What's YOUR problem?"

"I simply don't care for the criminally insane." the heiress stated with a small wave of her slim hand.

"The White Fang is _hardly_ a bunch of psychopaths, they're a collection of misguided Faunus." the ninja stated defensively.

"_Misguided_? They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet." the fencer pointed out as though it were painfully obvious.

"I believe the best term is, ah, 'radically motivated', ladies." Fenerion butted in, "Not quite exactly er, psychopathic or misguided, but rather stationed in between."

"Yeah! And Fen ought'a know, 'cause he-" Evan was cut off with a sharp elbow to the ribs, "OW! I'm just saying he studies all manner of organizations, geez." blue-green eyes lightly glared at the blank-faced helmet of his massive companion.

"Radically _insane_ more like." Weiss quickly shot off before Blake spoke up a bit forcefully.

"Hold on now! Whatever label we put on them, that still doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale." it was a good point she brought up, one worth some questioning.

Evan cleared his throat loudly, gaining the spotlight, "There was that Torchwick guy, y'know, the _thief_ that the police didn't capture. He could have done it."

"It could have been either, to be honest." Luke was the next to speak up, "We need to take into account not just the _type_ of store robbed, but also the fact that the store was robbed to begin with. The White Fang gain attention, beat their collective chests in a show of power, they put more pressure on the people in charge to do something, and the people in charge's 'something' is to fight back. It's a terrible cycle fueled by anger and hatred, and as long as they keep up their current regime, it will not change." he crossed his arms over his broad chest, "We have the endless cycle of anger and hate... or we have the thief with nothing better to do... yet honestly, it could be either one."

"Well, okay then." Raiden said slowly, drawing out each word for a second or two longer than needed, "In my personal experience, as one little taco girl once said-" the suited man's sentence was cut off suddenly by a gasp as his eyes went wide.

Evan was the first to notice his friend's state, "Raiden? Raiden!" he waved his hand in front of Raiden's face, "RAAAIIIDEEENNN~!" he shouted to snap his friend out of it

As if fallen into a trance, Raiden effortlessly batted aside his teammate's arm and ran off, lightning arcing off his legs.

The brunette grit his teeth, "Something's wrong, we gotta follow him!" he took off running after the swordsman, the others following seconds later.

Through alleys and streets they ran, following their wise friend.

Where was he going? Nobody had a clue.

* * *

Where was he going? He didn't have a clue.

No, seriously, Jaune had no idea where Jebediah was taking him.

The purple-eyed knight was content to simply walk down the street, whistling a low, slow tune with a lazy smile, gazing around with wise, yet curious eyes.

At some point, he turned into an alleyway for a shortcut. Several feet into it, however, he paused, his expression quickly hardening.

Jaune gazed around his field of vision, trying to discern the problem.

That's when he saw it, the shadows shifting like a murky fluid, a figure stepping out of them.

The man stood about half a head shorter than Jaune, maybe five-foot-eleven, wearing a tight smoke-gray gi and a pair of black boots. He had what looked like some sort of plastic armor plates on various parts of his body, as well as various pouches holding various items, and a upside-down y-shaped bandoleer set holding throwing knives.

What set off warning bells in Jaune's head was when the mysterious man cracked his knuckles as black energy shifted around him, forming into what appeared to be a strange set of armor that seemed to... un-glow, that is to say it darkened the air around it, and occasionally cast off little black sparks of energy. The man's torso became wrapped up in what seemed to be a ribcage with over a dozen extra rows of ribs, his arms and legs covered with what appeared to be a mixture of ribbons and armor plates, and his boots gained claws. In place of hands, he gained a pair of single-edged swords that formed underhanded like tonfas.

A skull with bull-like horns formed over his head, the hollow eye-sockets outlining his hate-filled brown eyes well.

The man opens his mouth and spoke in a voice that seemed to be two voices speaking together, one rough and deep, the other wispy and lighter, yet still masculine, "Jaune~... **Arc~...** the **Fifth** **Moon** that Illuminates the **Night**... how **quaint** it is to find you here..." occasionally the wispy voice overpowered the deeper one, resulting in a terrible mixture of tones, "I am **Agent** **4**, AKA Dark Runner, but you can call me DR, or..." he rasped his blades together, "You can call me your collector! **I'm Siggar, by the way, and I'm going to cut your limbs off with my shadow blades!**"

'_Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck oh shit oh shit oh shit we're gonna die he's got this crazy shadow power and we're gonna fucking die! I had a good run, I guess... at least I got my first kiss...'_

'We aren't going to die, get ahold of yourself, Jaune!'

"An umbramancer, it's been a long time since I've fought one of YOU." Jeb's tone was cold and calculating.

The ninja grimaced, "Jebediah Arc? **My** **my**..." he lashed forward, but was blocked by Sanctus Mendax in shield form, "You should be **DEAD** old **man~**! No worries, though, I'll return you to **where** **you belong** soon enough... **back** in the **hands** of the **reaper!**" he swung his shadowy swords again, but they simply met white metal as Jebediah blocked him again. A thin, shadowy arm grabbed a pair of throwing knives from his bandoleer and threw them at Jaune's face.

Except they hit solidified aura shielding and were pocketed in Jaune's jacket.

"Just put the **fucking** shield down and **GET HIT!**" the swords rasped against Sanctus Mendax as the assassin lost his composure fairly quickly, but only came away with a small spray of purple sparks. He struck again and again, but every slash, no matter how strong or fast, was blocked almost effortlessly, "Take a **fucking** **hit** damn you!" his anger flared, as did his aura, and his blades grew longer and sharper

"It seems patience was not in your master's lessons." the knight swung Crocea Mors hard at DR's leg, cracking the armor and cutting the ribbons, only for them to reform quickly after, "But it seems that laziness was probably beaten out of you at an early stage." he smirked tauntingly, his tone still low and cold.

"A lot of other things were **beaten** out of me too, like how I'm going to **beat the shit out of YOU! **Now hold still!" he swung his blades over a dozen times, still meeting only the shield.

The veteran grimaced and then shield-bashed DR in the face, the force of the blow sending the man flying back almost twenty feet.

Siggar formed out of his armor, leaving only the leggings behind as his face looked at his master's **"It's Jebediah, dude! The Shield of the People and Armor of Society! We can't beat him, his defenses are too strong!"**

The brunette growled in anger, "Fuck almighty... what else does he have?"

**"Since I'm the only one between us that reads the mission briefing, he has Armor and Protection, Healing and Medicine, Fire and Lightning Power, Aura Constructs with Sensory Feature, and an unknown fifth semblance from Jaune himself, as well as five pools of possibly massive amounts of aura."**

"Holy shit, dude, why did the boss send me ALONE to come fight this faggot?"

**"He probably intended for all of the Five to gang up on him, but we kinda went ahead on our own."**

"Oh for FUCK'S sake... you're my aura, you should be helping me!" DR demanded angrily.

"You know, talking to yourself is a sign of insanity." Jebediah spoke from above the ninja, who looked up to find the knight towering over him.

**"Here's some advice: RUN, BITCH, RUUUUUUUNNN~!" **as if a switch had been flicked, DR ran off at a tremendous pace, his aura charging through his legs and enhancing his speed.

The blonde blinked, then realized what just happened, "Oh no you don't!" he charged his aura through his legs and took off after the brunette.

Sprinting through the streets, the knight chased the ninja in a cruel reversal of the latter's mission, as the former knew the great risk of allowing the enemy to return to their base and inform their fellows and superiors of the situation. He had to cut off valuable information from being passed along.

The brunette ran for several minutes, his breathing getting ragged, his legs growing heavy, his vision growing blurry. He called the shadow arm up and threw his throwing knives rapidly behind him, trying to stop or at least slow his pursuer.

The only result was that the knives were caught by several floating 'sticky shields' and were deposited in the knight's jacket pocket. When the knives stopped coming, he dropped the shields to preserve his aura, using his blue aura to give himself the equivalent of an adrenaline shot.

Terror began to set into the ninja's mind as time wore on and his legs grew heavier and harder to keep moving as both his aura and his energy ran low. He cursed his luck as he continued, "Shit... no matter how many times I turn, he's still chasing me! It's like... oh fuck, he can detect my aura can't he?" he turned back to see that the knight hadn't even begun to show signs of getting tired, his face still twisted into that expression of cold anger.

While he wasn't looking where he was going, he tripped over something that felt like it was either a large fire hydrant or a small person.

The yelp of surprise told him it was the latter.

Rubbing his head after getting flipped over the person's body, he looked up and saw the upside-down image of a pale face topped with pink and brown hair.

Jebediah stopped in his tracks, breathing smoothly, but heavily, "Miss Neo." he bowed slightly with a smile, "Thank you for your assistance in apprehending this scum."

Neo smiled sweetly back at the blonde, giving her own bow, "You're welcome~... what did he do~, exactly~?" she tilted her head curiously and resting the tip of her parasol on DR's forehead, bearing down slightly.

Jebediah frowned and picked DR up by his neck, his feet dangling several inches off the ground as he was taken into the alleyway, "He was sent to kill me... and I have to interrogate him, so... I ask that you look away, this could get messy."

The diminutive woman nodded sadly, turning, "I'll just take a lap around the block, then... that should give you plenty of time." while it was sad that such methods would be needed, as a Huntress and especially as a mercenary, Neo knew that it was probably the most efficient way at the moment.

"Now this is something I learned in South Mistral, I'm gonna break your fingers one at a time and see if that convinces you to tell me what I want to know." those were the last words she heard before she picked up the pace and got out of earshot.

Jaune's handsome face was now twisted into a dangerous scowl as he pressed the ninja up against the bricks with one hand around his throat, the other pinning the man's right hand against the wall, "I can tell by examining your aura residue that you use your right hand the most... if you don't want to die a very, VERY painful death, then information is the key to mercy." he took the man's pinky between two fingers, "Now _talk_, who sent you?"

"Your mother, she didn't **want a filthy bastard** like you anym-AAAAAAHHHH!" DR let out a cry of pain as his finger snapped like a twig under the amethyst-eyed knight's greataxe-like wrath.

"Wrong answer, you have 9 more tries before I move on to phase two, and trust me, phase two is a LOT worse." Jebediah's tone was so low and cold that Jaune swore he was drawing its coldness from hell itself.

"FINE! FINE! My boss sent me, big guy in black armor-"

_'Luke?' _"Luke?"

"Who-AAAAAHHHHHH!" DR panted as his vision began to swim as two more fingers were broken, "I don't know any Luke! Look he wants you dead because you have something he wants!"

"What does he want? And I swear if you give me a snarky answer I'll break THREE fingers this time!"

"He wants you to kiss his ass you blond basta-AAAAAAAAAAHHH-" the brunette's cry of pain ascended into an pained breath too intense to make proper sound with.

"I'll kick his ass after I'm done with you, now you're trying my patience, boy, give me an answer!"

"Okay fine fine! Jebediah, right? He wants YOU... and John, and Jack, and Jacques, he wants your fucking souls!"

"How does he know about that?"

"I don't kno-" the ninja let out a grunt and a slow, extremely pained breath as a single motion strong motion led to the breaking of his remaining for fingers as well as feeling like the bones of his palms had been reduced to a fine powder. He was headbutted and his nose broke, but...

Jebediah stepped back as he watched the man's aura flare up slightly, pure inky gray-blackness, and then the ninja stood up, completely encompassed in anger and rage as two swords formed around his broken hands, no thicker than needles, but seething with hatred.

**"Round two... FIGHT!" **his voice was both wispy and at the same time full of nothing but pure hatred, black cracks forming like bloodshot in his eyes. He came at the knight like a man possessed.

"What does he want with Jaune's souls?"

_'Oh god I have an organization aimed at me! Who did I manage to piss off that much? I swear I'm going to apologize to every single person I've ever seen!'_

'Now is not the time for panic, Jaune.'

**"He wants the power for himself, as he deserves it more than you do!"**

"Who is he-GAH!" Jebediah backed up as his hand was cut deeply by the impossibly sharp shadow blade.

**"I'M ASKING THE QUESTIONS NOW!"** DR announced forcefully as he slashed again, this time catching the knight in the side of his midriff, the blade widening and drawing blood.

_'Why aren't you using your aura to defend yourself?! FIGHT HIM! DON'T LET ME DIE YOU ASSHOLE!'_

Another wound that would scar was cut into the blonde's body, this one on the shoulder, 'Battle scars, Jaune, wear them with pride.'

Suddenly, the wounds flashed blue and healed with slightly paled skin and purple light glowed around the cuts in his clothing, replacing the material using nothing but his aura. The next slash was blocked by a solid shield of aura, "No... you're not." his fist crashed into DR's unprotected face, sending his careening into the dumpster, where he crumpled to the ground like a ragdoll.

_'Oh god he's dead and the organization is gonna come after me and I'm gonna goddamn DIE and it's all your fault and goddammit Jebediah WHAT DO WE DO~?'_

'CALM DOWN!'

_'I CAN'T CALM DOWN WHEN MY LIFE IS ON THE LINE! I'M NOT POWERFUL ENOUGH TO TAKE RISKS LIKE THIS YOU PURPLE ASSHOLE!'_

'PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER DOUGLAS!' the veteran physically froze at his own mental statement, which was more panicked than he would have liked.

His hands shook, he drew his sword.

_'Who... is Douglas?'_

'M-m-m-m-m-m-my... l-l-l-l-l-l-lieutenant...' Jebediah was shaking like a leaf in the wind as he picked up the groaning, hazy-minded DR.

"Fuck... you..." the ninja said as what he knew would be his last words.

"Y-Y-Y-You're... n-n-not-t-t... h-h-h-hurting... a-a-anyone... a-a-anym-m-m-more..." the sharp tip of Crocea Mors slid into the man's armpit, between his ribs, and through his heart and both lungs.

The brunette coughed as he gray eyes dried from inky to ashy gray, the life dimming in them until nothing remained.

He was unceremoniously dropped, a glass bottle at his waist clinking on the stone ground.

Jebediah breathed heavily for several seconds, _'What was that?'_

'Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder...'

_'No, no I could understand that part, and I do understand you've been through a lot, but~... I heard glass when he hit the ground...'_

'Hm? Oh... huh... let me... check that.' slowly, his breathing came back under control as he came back to reality. The battlefields littered with corpses of humans and Grimm alike faded back into the urban environment of the streets of Vale City. The acrid and sickening smell of fire and ash, of countless gallons of blood and grimm ichor slaking the thirst of the blackened and charred earth, forming a mud of morbidity, had faded into the more gentle scent of stone, some sweat, and automotive exhaust. The sounds of gunpowder cracking off and metal weaponry clanging against bone and other metal, the screams and roars of his fellow warriors and the creatures of Grimm respectively faded into the rabble of walking, talking, and engines humming a good forty or fifty feet away.

He spit out the bile that had risen in his mouth and looked down at his fallen enemy. Kneeling, he began searching the body. Jebediah was always a little opposed to looting, but all was fair in love and war.

He removed the bandoleer from the man, placed the knives back into the little pockets they belonged in, then folded the whole thing up and put it into his stomach pocket. He examined the man's boots, "Same size as you, how convenient." he removed the footwear, using a bit of his aura to dispel the dirt, water, and dust off of them, then stored them safely away in his jacket. He moved his hands down to the man's belt, to the glass bottle that was now filling up with what looked like an inky gray-black fluid, almost like liquefied shadows. Amethyst eyes scanned over the bottle, the etched lines on the brass cap, three points, "Orion's belt..." he squinted while holding the bottle out to the light, his eyes tracing the other other points, 'Orion's helm, Orion's greaves, Orion's axe, Orion's shield... and from the etching on the glass, which has been hardened and tempered to a golden hue, this is a constellation bottle... damn, whoever hired this assassin has knowledge of ancient soul technology.'

_'Soul technology? Constellation bottle? In English, please?'_

'A constellation bottle holds part of a person's soul after death, part of the Chicade known as Identity, that deals with the Semblance. It would be possible, through ancient and generally evil rituals, to absorb the contents of this bottle and gain a second semblance.'

'_Wow... how... how did these rituals even become a thing?'_

'The ancient monks were the first scholars of Aura, they did absolutely everything they could to learn more, through any means necessary... I never read the full story, but any method, even ones that seemed like they might not grant any results... all in the name of progress... you'd be surprised what some people can think of when they're allowed to do ANYTHING...'

_'Damn...'_

'Look alive, Neo is coming back.' Jebediah attached the buckle to his belt, the short length of thin chain that held the bottle letting it tap against his thigh with every step.

Sure enough, the walk around the block had come to an end for the petite woman, and she stepped back into view as the knight approached the entrance of the alleyway, "Miss Neo, not a moment too late, then again a lady like yourself of course would have impeccable timing." he bowed politely.

Neo couldn't help but giggle lightly, a soft, light pink rising to her cheeks, "I suppose you've dealt with the~... scum~?"

"He was interrogated and attempted to kill me a second time... he was able to use his semblance despite not having any aura in his reserves, something I haven't ever seen, really." he answered truthfully, "But... he's been... dealt with."

"Oh~... I see~." the huntress deflated slightly, her eyes turning vanilla white and chocolate brown respectively as she gazed down the alleyway, "Well~, sometimes~ it can't be helped~."

Jaune was shocked, Jebediah was not, "Sometimes we have to do bad stuff for a good reason... we can't back down from our duties just because they might be a bit icky." he said with conviction, but ended with a laugh, smiling at her, but his mind was a storm of emotion, though none of it showed.

"Exactly~." Neo gave a slight giggle, smiling back at the blonde. Gentle AND strong? Having a heart AND an edge? To her it was delicious~. She giggled more, the soft, smooth, rich sound was sweeter than any ice cream Jaune had ever eaten.

_'Damn, I didn't see her all too well before, but now?... damn.'_

'What NOW, boy?'

_'She's beautiful! I mean she was beautiful before, but I didn't really see it too well... but now? Yeah... damn...'_

'Well keep it in your pants, Jaune, we have work to do.'

Jebediah was snapped out of his stupor by a pair of small, snapping fingers in front of his face, "Ah~, there~ he is~, back on Remnant~. Jaune~, were you even paying attention~?"

"S-sorry, I was... distracted." was the hasty, thrown-together excuse from the increasingly flustered veteran.

"I said~, would you like~ an adventure~? Still one thousand lien~." she giggled immediately after her sentence was over, a slight pink coloring her cheeks.

"W-what does that entail, exactly?"

"Simple~... k-kind of~ like that scum~, but cleaner~ and more professional~... you need someone dead~, I'll take them out for you~." she sighed as she remembered her last adventure, the corrupt politician she had taken down had surprised her with a rather large pistol, managing to get off three shots that cracked three of her ribs, "My last one ended in some whipped cream~, my ribs still ache from that encounter." she idly rubbed her fingers over the sore spot just an inch or two under her right breast, "Three doses, all on my chest."

The blonde blushed lightly, but duty called, and he gently placed his hand over her aching ribs, sending a small surge of blue aura into it, surprising the diminutive huntress with a rush of relief and relaxation, "There you go, can't have you walking around injured."

To her credit, Neo managed to confine her blush to just her cheeks, however her heart was warmed at the care and compassion Jaune showed her, the sincerity in his words, it all made her feel warm and fuzzy inside, "Th-thank you, Jaune."

"No problem, it's just some Aura, it'll be back in, like, ten, twenty minutes tops." Jebediah slowly settled down, his reactions less forced, "Since it's not yet the day I'll train with you, I suppose we have some free time... would you care to join me for some ice cream?"

Neo's reaction was immediate as her eyes widened and she let out an adorable gasp, "Ice cream~?" her voice had risen in pitch with her excited state.

Jebediah nodded and smiled wider, "Come on, I know a good place." he gestured for her to follow him.

One small finger rose up, then a swirling mixture of pink, white, and brown aura glowed around Neo's entire form, then... she changed. She appeared to stand about five-foot-one, with a head full of brown hair and rich pink eyes. Her clothes changed to a black blazer over a brown shirt and brown pants, and even her umbrella changed to a simple clear plastic tinged with light green, "Ready~... I don't like being seen~ by those who don't need to see me~."

"Disguises, nice." he chuckled lightly, 'I can only assume she's probably done quite a lot of work in town to want to go unseen like this...'

The two walked at a leisurely pace together.

* * *

As Raiden sprinted through streets and alleyways, the sunlight kissing his albino skin and the wind whipping through his hair, his senses screamed at him that evil was afoot, evil that would...

That would...

Tears leaked from his eyes as memories flooded forth, the hell he'd been through, he hated it.

He hated it.

He HATED IT.

He hated everything.

He HATED EVERYTHING!

Wrathful flames rose from his form as anger flowed through his veins, and he jumped, leaving a thick spiderweb of heavy cracks in the sidewalk as his legs launched him to the top of a nearby building.

Crimson anguish glowed around Raiden's tuxedo as his vision flashed between reality and his PTSD flashbacks.

Finally, the signal was near enough that he was within leaping distance.

So he leaped the distance.

...

The sidewalk shattered under his immense weight and he stood with sword instantly in hand, pointing it towards the source of the signal...

"Salll-uuutations, sir!" the five-foot-six green-eyed girl greeted innocently with a small wave, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Who are you? Who sent you?" Raiden's voice was heated and interrogative.

"My name is Penny, it's a pleasure to meet you! I'm from Atlas." she greeted automatically, as... well... it was an automated response.

Raiden glared at the girl for several moments as his optical implants scanned her, "Scans show composition is 50% iron, 12% silicon, 20% carbon, 10% copper, gold, silver, and platinum, and 8% various gases... you're a cyborg?"

"A... cyborg... no." her response was slow as she considered her words, "Would you like me to help you locate a cyborg?"

The swordsman grit his teeth, "A UG then? Interesting AI you have, you're even giving off Aura signals... how?"

"Because I have Aura?" Penny tilted her head curiously, raising her hand with her fingers parallel to the ground as strings of aura drooped down from her fingertips.

"You're obviously not human... what are you then?"

"I'm Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you."

"You already said that..." Raiden took a step closer with his sword still outstretched towards the small girl.

Penny backed away, "So I have... why are you trying to attack me?"

"I have bad experience with cyborgs, they tend to fuck the entire world up..." Raiden's aviators had slipped down his nose in his growing anxiety.

"That is... unfortunate." Penny backed away slowly, "Um... scans show 60% carbon, 15% osmium/titanium alloy, 18% silicon, 5% calcium, 2% phosphorous, and other biological material... you are very unfortunate, sir, to require a replacement of your entire biological body."

"Call me Raiden." the swordsman said as he pushed his glasses up.

"19% silicon. You are very unfortunate, Raiden." Penny corrected herself, "I assure you I am not here to commit crimes, assuming that is your concern. I am actually from the military, I stop crimes." she spoke softly, though her voice wasn't good at putting on a reassuring tone.

Raiden's anger flared up five times brighter, "You'll have to excuse me if that doesn't do anything towards endearing yourself to me. but the last military I interacted with and I aren't on speaking terms at the moment, we're more on 'war against one another' terms."

"You oppose the Atlas military?" Penny's eyes shifted slightly, "That is a crime."

"I see you weren't programmed to comprehend the concept of freedom of speech, either." he jested, retracting his sword back slightly.

Penny paused, her gears whirring as she searched for a definition to Raiden's words, "Freedom of speech... the right to express any opinions without censorship or restraint... this concept is accepted in Atlesian law."

"Well, that's good." he sighed, his posture relaxing, "So, an artificial person with a real soul?"

"I do not know of the process of my creation, Raiden." Penny continued to stand nearly ramrod straight, no obvious show of body language.

"Sad... well I think you have the potential to be a good person." he offered a small smile.

Penny simply nodded, "Thank you, Raiden, but I believe 'good' is a subjective term. How will I know that I am being 'good'?"

Raiden sighed, then patted the ginger on her head gently, "You're best off figuring that out for yourself. You've got a soul, an innocent one, don't let it be corrupted. If you're a weapon, be a weapon for the right cause."

The atlesian nodded, her face turning to an expression of confusion. The ninja could see, through his massively expanded vision, that there were literal gears in her head turning.

Suddenly, he heard someone turn the corner, approaching swiftly. He turned, still tense, grabbed the approaching person.

"Whoa!" the monkey faunus coughed as he was winded and thrown almost like a baseball into the air.

The suited swordsman gave a small sound of annoyance, "Tch... well, that's taken care of." he turned to Penny, sheathing his sword finally, "So, Penny, might I ask what you're doing out in Vale City, so far from home?"

Penny perked up, "I am fighting in the Vytal Festival Tournament."

Raiden smirked slightly, "Oh? Is that so." he felt himself relaxing slightly.

The cybernetic girl raised a hand to her forehead to give a salute when the cybernetic man raised a hand to stop her, "Is something wrong?"

Suddenly, there was a not-so-distant shout from around the corner, and the ninja quickly sensed a familiar Aura signal flared brightly, "Hold that thought, friend." he turned around, aura flared up.

A furious Yang found her motions slowed to a crawl. She blinked and realized Raiden was standing in front of her, arms outstretched, casting his bright cyan aura onto her.

"Breathe, Yang, breathe." he spoke calmly and clearly.

"SIIIIIIS~!" Ruby shouted as she activated her semblance the millisecond she'd turned the corner, only to trip over a second or two of slowness, barreling into something, "OOF!"

Raiden winces as he watched the little reaper crashed into Penny, sending them both falling back onto the ground. He released the partially calmed Yang and looked her over, realizing her plight, "Here." he pulled a bottle of nanites out of his storage capacitors and set them into Yang's hair, where they removed the smearing of orange sherbet, drops of it falling onto the pavement, and when they were done, they moved and formed a small gray band holding her hair into a pretty ponytail, "There you go, good as new." he smiled at the blonde brawler, then went over and lifted Ruby up off of Penny, "You okay, Rubes?"

Ruby shook her head clear of the fog that had formed, rubbing her eyes to clear them, "Ow~." she rubbed her forehead, "What did I hit?"

Yang meanwhile felt at her hair and smiled, "H-h-hey, thanks dude." she smiled weakly, then looked around, her anger flaring up, "Now where's that faunus guy who crashed into me?" her eyes went red immediately.

"A faunus near here? The only faunus to pass by was launched that way." Penny piped up from her position on the ground, pointing in the direction Sun was thrown.

Ruby looked down at Penny once her head was clear, "Hi there!" she smiled warmly, "What are you doing on the ground?" her tone was innocently curious, and her mind was still slightly shaken from her unexpected

"You collided with me." the robot-in-disguise stated simply.

The silver-eyed huntress-in-training immediately went wide-eyed, "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry." she instantly leaned down and extended her hand to help the fallen girl to her feet.

Green eyes examined the hand for a few quick moments, then Penny's pale hand reached up and grabbed Ruby's warmer hand firmly, lifting herself up off the ground, "Thank you." she gave a small nod like she had seen Raiden do.

Ruby gave the ginger-haired girl a warm and friendly smile, "Again I'm REALLY sorry~! I wasn't watching where I was going and I just-"

"Hey, think positive, Rubes, nobody was hurt, were they?" Raiden spoke up, glancing between the two short fighters.

Penny caught the prompt and gave another nod, "I was unharmed."

"Oh thank goodness! Still, I'm very, VERY sorry for running into you." the reaper started almost literally gushing out a string of soft, yet fervent apologies, feeling extremely awkward as she dusted Penny off.

Yang facepalmed and shook her head at the sight, "Rubes, calm down, it was an accident." she looked at her adorable sister with a light smile.

Ruby nodded, sighing out, "Er, right... s-still sorry, it was an accident."

"No harm was done, I forgive you, Rubes." the android reassured in her strongest tone of voice, which was lightly emotional at best.

The young scythe-wielder smiled happily, "It's Ruby, and that's my sister Yang." a pale thumb was pointed at the still-fuming blonde

Yang sighed lightly, "Yo." she raised a hand for a second before lowering it and looking to the side and at the ground, contemplating what to do now.

Penny nodded, "I'm Penny, it's a pleasure to meet you!" she shook Ruby's hand vigorously.

Ruby shook forcefully, giving herself some slack to keep Penny's handshake from dislocating her shoulder, "I-i-it's a ple-e-e-easure to meet you too-oo-oo-oo~!" her words shook with her. Thankfully, before her organs were shaken into a new arrangement, Penny released her hand, allowing the disoriented reaper to regain her bearings once more, "R-right, a-anyways, Yang and I should get back to the group, s-so..." Ruby trailed off as she took Yang by the arm, "See you later, friends." she waved at them as she and Yang turned a corner.

Penny blinked a few times, "Friends? Plural?"

"More than one." Raiden added with a small laugh, "Ruby is a very friendly girl."

"Friend~..." the robotic girl drew the word out as long as she felt necessary, feeling it, "Friend..."

"You want to be her friend?" the swordsman guessed.

Penny nodded, "A friend." she quickly leaped atop the nearest building and ran ahead.

Raiden sighed heavily, "Better get back to the group..." he leaped in a similar fashion to Penny, sending himself careening through the air towards where he sensed the others were.

...

The older of the sisters shook her head clear, "Soooo~... THAT girl was weird."

"I thought she was nice." Ruby said with a smile.

"Of course YOU'D think that, sis, you're too nice for your own good sometimes."

"Are you still mad about Jaune's panic episode?"

"What did you call me?" Penny suddenly interjected, the two sisters looking forward to realize that the orange-haired girl had somehow gotten in front of them.

Yang stepped forward with a soft expression, raising a hand, "I-i'm sorry, I didn't think you'd hear me, I didn't mean i-"

"No, not you." Penny passed Yang and closed the gap between her and Ruby's faces until only about a foot remained, "_You_!"

"Me? But, I, I didn't...I-I don't know, I- what I- um, uh-" Ruby stuttered as her mind scrambled to find words

"You called me _friend_! Am I _really_ your friend?"

"Uuuummm~..." Ruby looked past Penny's head, towards Yang, who made a wild 'no' gesture while shaking her head back and forth quickly. Silver eyes quivered, glancing back and forth between her sister and the green-eyed girl in front of her, "Yeah sure, why not?" she gave a tiny shrug, feeling awkwardness rise up.

The pale girl leaned back as her arms shot up in celebration, "Sen~SATIONAL! Oh we can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys~!" she gushed the lines she knew.

Ruby scratched the back of her head, "Hehe, hhhhhooooooowwwww about... we do that LATER... and right now, my sister and I go back to our group?"

"You have a group? Of more friends?" Penny clasped her hands in front of her chest with a pleading expression, "May I come with you to meet them?"

Yang pushed the two girls apart, "I'm sure you have someone to get back to as well, Penny, sooo~, we'll be on our way, buuut we'll catch ya later, okay?" she gave the clueless ginger a bright grin.

"Oh, o-o-okay... c-catch you later?" Penny repeated back, feeling slight frustration at the inadequacy of her voice modulators. Why had Dr. Polendina sent her out before her weekly tuneup?

Ruby waved to her new friend, "See ya later~." as she and Yang turned the corner.

Before she knew what she was doing, Penny waved back with a slight smile, feeling... happy.

She had to look up what 'happy' meant, but somehow... she knew it in her soul that that was what she was feeling.

* * *

Jaune felt exhausted, both physically and mentally.

He had gone over countless scenarios, literally thousands, and nothing within his current power level, he felt, could even scratch his war veteran of a grandfather.

Somehow, he'd figured out how to divide his thoughts from Jebediah's perception, which was crucial in developing a plan to taking down his enemy.

It just didn't do to have your enemy figure out your plan to kill them and figure a way around it, especially when that enemy easily had over a hundred times the experience you did.

He felt a raging fire inside. Jebediah had helped him immensely, he'd gotten a lot of the feel for taking down Grimm, and no doubt he'd physically become a lot healthier.

But as his dear mother had always said to him, an apartment full of love was worth a million times more than a mansion with no heart.

Granted, he DID live in a mansion, granted one on the smaller end of the spectrum, but it was bursting at the seams with love. He was the oldest of eight siblings, yet his parents didn't let the quantity of their love degrade the quality of their love.

He had had a very very nice childhood, he would be the first to say that. Granted he could point out flaws and problems easily, but he never went to bed without a satisfied stomach and a hug from his dear mother Juniper.

His father, John, was... a bit less obvious. He was firm, but fair. He was... eccentric, teasing Jaune all the time, but never failing to express his pride when the youth had done well. Now that Jaune knew the truth of his bloodline, he could understand his father's point of view much better.

Combat skill had always come naturally to his father. He was just... good at it. When he'd attended Beacon, he hadn't flopped around like Jaune had at first, he had hit the ground running, where as Jaune had hit the ground and sprained his ankles.

Of course, a man who'd found fighting to come easily to him, combined with both an eccentric side and a strict side, would be reasonably confused when his son didn't take to his lessons very well. Jaune just wasn't up to snuff for John's liking, so Jaune's uncle was brought in, and that went even WORSE!

Jaune couldn't get that one sight out of his mind, the sight of himself at age thirteen, being forced to put a half-dead buck out of its misery after his psychopathic uncle had run it over. The sight of its guts splattered over the forest floor, the jeep's tired tracks like a deadly tattoo over its torso, he couldn't bear to look at it as he failed to even break through the skull of it after five swings. He'd gotten angry as tears blurred his vision and he swung harder than the other five times combined, killing it instantly.

He had complained to his father, leaving out the gory details of the hunting trip but still saying that he wasn't learning anything, and his uncle was made to back off.

Of course, who would have predicted that even after trying three times harder, he still failed to muster the strength to do it?

Not his father, who he knew would have pumped him full of these blue aura steroid-like infusions to help him build muscle fast.

Really, it wasn't that his father didn't love him, he wasn't that he was an asshole or a goofball or even a bad guy... he just hadn't paid attention and Jaune hadn't realized his problems, a double-blind situation that could have been avoided if either of them had acted smarter, but they just DIDN'T...

Jaune didn't hold it against his father, he didn't even hold it against himself, really. In the end, Jaune had become strong, he was now a man he saw fit to lead Team JNPR to victory.

Victory, and glory, and fame, these things were very tempting for the youth, but the only fame he wanted was that others knew they could depend on him to do a job and do it right, and they knew he was a good man with goodness in his heart and the will of god almighty on his mind, and that will was to be the light in the darkness, and to keep moving forward.

"Being out of control of my body for about five days... has given me a LOT of time to be introspective." he said softly, laying in the soft, cool grass of the Knight's Eternal Field, as he'd come to call it.

He gazed around, the five lampposts, yellow, orange, purple, blue, and white. They spread an ample amount of milky white light around. He looked at the brick wall, ran his hand over the smooth gray surface. He gazed up at the yellow bulb sticking to it, not connected to any source of power, just purely for aesthetic effect. He looked at the waist-high pedestal on which Crocea Mors and Sanctus Mendax rested, ran a hand over the surface of the gleaming shield.

"I need to stop talking to myself, I'll drive myself crazy if I do..." he shook his head, his vision growing foggy, "What the hell?"

...

Jebediah felt a great weight crash down onto the forcefield on his back, which did not yield, "Now who is flying at me?" he turned around to see a blonde boy on the ground, twitching in pain. Sighing, he quickly gathered his blue aura into his hand and cast it to the boy, healing him and applying a painkiller effect, along with a bit of adrenaline to help it along, "Are you going to be okay?"

Sun twitched and groaned, slowly getting up as his aura worked to reduce the pain and fix the damage he no doubt had sustained from that hit against that concrete wall. Blinking a few times, his eyes focused and he realized it was not a wall he'd hit, but a fellow teenager, tall and blonde like him, but moreso than he was at five-foot-ten and with sunlight-blonde hair. He hummed a little, "What?"

"I _asked_ you if you were going to be okay." Jebediah repeated.

"Oh, pssshhh~, that? That was nothing, dude. I've taken worse falls than that and gotten back up no problem. The name's Sun, by the way." the faunus waved off the concern with a hand while brushing his tail off with the other.

"Well met, Sun, the name's Jaune, Jaune Arc, short and sweet, and just in case you need it..." the knight cast another heal on the faunus, restoring what he could feel were heavily depleted aura reserves, while Jaune felt a feeling like his arm was on fire... healing other people hurt him a LOT, he realized, "Sooo~... Sun, if you're thirsty or hungry, I was going to a place with a friend of mine, there's ice cream, coffee, tea, and various types of little snack foods and meals." he pointed his thumb backwards towards the store just down the block.

Sun tilted his upper body and had a brain fart moment, "Is she the store?" he nearly facepalmed at his own statement, gazing at the small woman quickly jogging up to Jaune with red cheeks.

"S-sorry~ for running ahead~, I don't know~ what came over me~." her voice was smooth and rich, then she gazed up at Sun, "Oh, hello~ there sir~, I see you've met Jaune. I'm Hollie, nice to meet you." she held out a slim hand for him to shake.

Sun shook it while staring blankly at 'Hollie', "Uh... you're short."

Hollie pouted, "Don't~. Mention~. That~... or I'll bust your knees." she clenched her fist.

The shorter blonde backed up a step, "You've got quite the firecracker of a girlfriend here."

Purple eyes widened immensely, "N-no! She's not my girlfriend, she's my tutor."

Unseen by Jebediah, but clear to Sun, was how Hollie deflated at his statement, but Sun chose to say nothing about that and just nod back, "Right then... so... tea?"

"And ice cream~!" the short woman said with a grin as she rushed back towards the store, the knight jogging after her.

Gray eyes watched the two of them, then the Mistralian shook his head, "This town is getting weird... eh, she's easily a twenty-three out of ten, totally worth it."

...

Hollie poked at Sun's necklace, "What's this~?" her tone was smooth and polite.

"It's a necklace." Sun replied boredly while waiting for the waitress to return with his jasmine tea and... whatever the other two had ordered, he hadn't been paying attention.

"I mean why kind~ of necklace~?"

"It's a necklace my dad gave me before I started at Haven Academy."

His fellow blonde hummed, "The school in Mistral? You're very far from home then."

"Nah, I grew up in Vacuo." Sun corrected with a smile, "It's a really nice place if you can ignore the blazing hot days and freezing cold nights, or the foggy-as-fuck days and the cold-as-fuck nights, depending on where you live. I happen to be from the plains between the ocean and most of the deserts, nearest the island of Napan. We're~... a bit more traditional, in some ways, despite rampant industry."

Jebediah smirked, "Well it sounds very nice. So you're a Huntsman-in-training, eh? Same here, I'm attending Beacon."

"No shit, really? That's pretty cool." the faunus silently thanked the powers that be that he finally had his tea.

"Yeah, and leeeetttt meeee tell you~, it's quite the adventurous time."

* * *

"This is quite the adventurous time!" Luke said over the hum of the wind as they ran through the streets.

"Why are we running again?" Weiss shouted as she breathed very heavily.

Evan looked ahead, "Raiden running off does NOT mean good things!"

Suddenly, there was an explosion of noise and dust from the sidewalk a couple dozen feet in front of them.

Evan stopped, shortly followed by everyone attempting to stop too, however the combined momentum and imbalance caused all five members of the two teams to collapse into a pile of tangled bodies and limbs.

"I... hope I'm not interrupting anything." Raiden said with a small laugh, "False alarm, guys."

Evan pulled himself out of the pile by sheer force of will, dusting himself off and helping Fenerion up and off of Blake, "Dude, don't scare us like that! We thought it was an emergency!"

"Sadly, or rather thankfully, no it was not, the danger was simply a conceived threat, the concept preceding any investigation, but too imminent to be ignored." he pale swordsman explained as he effortlessly helped Luke up with one hand and Weiss with the other, "Now then, Ruby and Yang are currently moving to rejoin us." Raiden revealed as he pulled out his scroll, "I already texted them and told them to meet up with us in the shopping district, on the corner of Redwood and Goldbloom.

To his word, the others followed, feeling that getting some supplies was a good thing to spend their time doing.

* * *

Sun Wukong was many things.

He was wise sometimes, as he had a lot of life experience.

He was hot, many girls drooled over his rock-hard abs, which he proudly displayed with his open shirt.

He was fast, he could fire four shotgun shells in a second with his weapon, and he could run from all of the police officers he'd ever encountered (which was why he wasn't in jail right now).

He was a great stowaway, given that he could stay still for hours without a peep, even if he didn't want to. It was that monk-like peace that he hoped to one day be able to harness in combat, that zen state that would grant him unbelievable power.

He was a good guy, in the traditional sense. Even if he got in trouble for not paying for things and got police called on him more often than he could stop and take a leak, he still genuinely wanted to help people and stop the BIG criminals, the ones that stole valuable things and mugged people and committed murders and terrorism.

He was now feeling like he could add 'brain damaged' to that list, but only if he facepalmed as hard and as many times as he wanted to.

Jebediah whistled lowly as he walked, feeling more relaxed after having a more 'normal' time with friends, "Hollie is a nice woman... a little more touchy-feely than I was comfortable with, but to each their own." he smiled, both minds mostly unaware of the petite woman's desires.

Sun facepalmed, all but holding back his desire to grab the larger blonde, shake him by the shoulders vigorously, and shout, 'She's into you, dammit!' before slapping him a couple times in the face for good measure. Instead, in a show of self-control, he replied with a hum and a "Yeah." before putting his tense hands in his pockets, "So... how's Beacon life on the day-to-day?"

"Well... as I said I live in a room with two females and one fellow male. Thankfully their respective natures offer the same quick shower-time routine, so I'm not scrambling to prepare every day. JNPR is myself, Jaune Arc, then Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos-"

"The four-time champion of the Mistral Tournament?"

"The same, she's actually my partner! We fought a Deathstalker together... I was a lot more pathetic when that happened."

"Whoooaaa~... dude, Deathstalkers are like, BIG DEAL Grimm, not even talking about how they're fucking huge." Sun looked up at his fellow blonde, "Did you win or run away?"

"We ran away the first time... it threw me to the goal area, and it chased Pyrrha all the way there... we later had Nora smash it to death and it fell off a cliff." he noted, grimacing, "It almost killed one of our own... luckily his aura was strong in its defense." he sighed, "My team, strangely enough, is tied for the top ranks with Team RWBY, granted each of my teammate's skill levels are above the norm, yet even in Beacon, 2nd place is still quite the achievement." he smirked, "Maybe if I keep improving at my current rate, we'll even become number one."

"Daaaaamn, we're still, like, number five, but being in the top five isn't bad." the faunus smirked, recalling his teammates.

"Oh, hey, speaking of that, why aren't you in Haven right now?"

"Kinda stowed away on a ship over here. The tests were coming up and if I'm not there, I can't fail, now can I?"

"Hehe, no, no you can't... but you can't pass either."

"I don't care about my grades, I just care about results." Sun scoffed lightly, his gaze lowering.

"You want results, do you? What kind of results?"

"The kind that make me strong enough to defend a village alone or to beat my way through an army of darkness. Strength of body, strength of mind, y'know? My dad taught me that."

Jebediah smirked, not a cocky or a teasing smirk, but one of understanding, "You're more intelligent than you let on, Sun." he turned to the shorter man, "If you weren't so keen on stealing food and playing pranks, I imagine you'd be able to channel your strength of body and mind and be an excellent Huntsman." he gave the faunus a pat on the back.

_'Don't think that growing on me is going to let you off of being killed.'_

'You just will NOT let that go, will you? Fine, if you still wish to fight me after my good behavior, it is only proper knight behavior that I accept your challenge and put forth my best efforts.'

"So um... there are guest dorms here, right?" Sun asked suddenly.

Jebediah looked around and realized that in a haze of friendly banter and chatting, they'd gone back to Beacon.

How he missed the walk to the airship building and getting on the airship itself, he had no idea, he was usually more focused than this, but there were too few neural connections in Jaune's brain to support his normally much more massive intelligence.

"Uh... yeah, it's the G building." he recalled.

Beacon had many buildings in its complex, dormitories and classrooms, the training hall, the assembly hall, the cafeteria, Ozpin's office, the CCT building, it was all used on a daily basis and it seemed like not a single square inch of the entire academy was wasted.

"Thanks... I'm probably not gonna be using it at all, but it's nice to know for future reference." Sun said simply as he started walking towards the complex, "So~... I thought it'd be smaller..."

"Everyone thinks that at first, I hear." the veteran chuckled, smirking, "So do you want to just roam or are you just going to immediately go back to town?"

"I was thinkin-hubba HUBBA." the staff-wielder's eyes went wide as he picked out something in the darkness.

Jebediah looked ahead, jogging closer as he saw a small figure getting closer to the statue of Jacques Arc and Corsage Rose. He got closer with quiet steps, figuring out it was Blake quite easily from not only the lengthy, shadowy-black tresses she had, but the bow on her head.

He watched her head's motions, first turning to Jacques, then the Corsage, then finally to the Beowolf under the cliff they stood atop. Her hands raised towards her head slowly.

"Blake?" he said in a soft tone, stepping closer.

The ninja spun around, looking at the handsome blonde approaching her, "J-j-jaune?" her eyes were slightly reddened from the crying she'd done along the way.

"What happened?"

"It... it was Weiss and Luke... against Raiden and me..." she sniffled, her hands falling to her side, "Their words were... so hateful... Luke said that only those who had defected upon the turn to violence could be forgiven... Raiden talked about justice... and I... I fucked up, to be honest." she sniffled again, a sob wracking her form.

She felt a soft warm around her body, along with a gentle pressure and a feeling of safety. She looked up at the knight's face and saw the purple eyes staring down at her with a caring compassion.

'Fine, you steer the conversation... if she IS talking about the White Fang, then I don't see the point of even being friends with a former criminal, especially a murderer and a terrorist.'

_'BLAKE IS A GOOD GIRL! She wouldn't do those things without reason! The eighth sin, gramps, despair? Yeah, that's a thing!'_

"It's okay~." he gently petted the back of her head, holding her in a brotherly and reassuring hug, "It's not your fault... society just isn't fair... a thousand monkeys at a thousand typewriters can't be expected to come to a consensus." he chuckled softly, kissing the top of her head and comfortingly rubbing her back.

Blake felt peace fill her, "What do I do?"

"Come with me and my monkey without a typewriter." he chuckled, earning a distant 'Hey!' from Sun, "We'll get some tea, stay out of the way, and come back once everyone's cooled down, okay?"

"... okay." she agreed with a meek tone, burying her head in the blonde's unarmored chest, thankful this new outfit had foregone it in favor of style.

"Sooooo~... is she your girlfriend then?" Sun asked bluntly, hands still in his pockets.

"I-" "No." Blake was interrupted by Jebediah's sudden answer, "But I'll be damned before I let a friend fall into despair when I could have helped her. Faunus or no, White Fang or no, Blake Belladonna is my friend and I will help her by any means necessary."

Golden eyes looked up at the knight as he cradled her shuddering form in his warm, muscular arms. She took a few moments to sneak a few feels of his biceps and forearms, pleased with the texture and mentally noting to thank and possibly pay Pyrrha and Yang for the good work they did.

Walking, they returned to the airship.

"Back so soon?" an attendant asked in confusion.

"Forgot to do something in town." Jaune answered, before Jebediah took the reins again, "We'll be back before the final flight runs."

Blake's form was still lightly shivering from the cold, which she never was able to take well, but Jaune's warm embrace comforted her, even if his cold metal shoulderguards were especially cold.

Throughout the short nighttime ride, Blake sat snuggled up to Jaune, feeling the warmth his body offered and taking it for her own, instincts guiding her while her mind recovered from the fiasco earlier, not a single thought entering her head.

Sun looked at the two, noting the affection in his fellow faunus' eyes as she clung almost desperately to his fellow blonde, 'They HAVE to be a couple, that concern, that closeness... nobody just HAS that, right? And I sincerely doubt she's his sister...' he mused silently, thinking of the implications of both this and the woman named Hollie.

If Jaune knew about Hollie's affections and was pretending to not notice, could it be because he was with a friend of Blake's? It made some sense, given his conviction to help her.

He'd have to just wait and see, he guessed.

* * *

_"Did I ever tell you... the definition, of insanity?" the man asked with murder in his eyes._

_"Is it me? I'm betting it's me." the other man, clad in a dark blue t-shirt and whitish pants, with large, heavy-looking blue anklets and bracelets that seemed out of place with his casual clothing._

_"What? N-no, it's-"_

_"OH! Maybe it's YOU! Y'know, for attacking ME?"_

_"I... don't follow you." the man was now only confused._

_"Let me explain..." he cleared his throat, "My name is Johnathan Crucifix Arc, X-Class Huntsman and Official Badass, at your service." he served the line with a smile.  
_

_"Wait, Huntsman?" the attacker's eyes widened, then purple light flashed over John's body, and his blue bracelets and anklets seemed to have... well, it seemed like their mass shifted, turning into a suit of halfplate armor while he reached to his back, pulling off a sheathed sword and patting it in his hand._

_"Mine's bigger than yours, in case you couldn't tell." he looked down at the small knife the mugger chose to use, "This is the part where you run away."_

_The ratty-looking man turned tail and sprinted away with a fear-filled haste, leaving the blonde man laughing as he put Crocea Mors away and his armor shifted back to its base form._

_Standing tall and proud like he always did, he turned and looked at his wife with a winning smile, then at his son with a softer, more fatherly smile, "Now son, what have we learned?"_

_A young Jaune stared at his father, unsure, "Uhhhhh... be tougher than your attacker?"_

_"Well... no that's not really a very practical lesson, I mean... bahhh~, nevermind~." he waved off the question with a motion of his hand._

_"Dyat was AWESYOME, dyaddy!" Sakura, or Kira as she preferred, cheered from her position of piggyback riding his wife, her small frame just large enough to hold onto her mother's own short frame. Her tail waved around slowly, her little kitty ears twitching and wiggling excitedly.  
_

_"Yes it was, sweetie, yes, it, was~." he smirked, "Now how about we go back to enjoying this lovely day, hm? That mugger didn't take anything physical from me, so let's not let him take the feelings of this good time we're having, shall we?"_

_"Nope! I knew you were gonna make him either run away peeing his pants, or kick his butt so hard he fell unconscious!"_

_"Nyeah~! Dyaddy kyicks byutt!" Kira cheered excitedly, pulling out a couple of fishy crackers from the pouch on her belt and eating them, kindly offering her big brother one as well, which he happily and politely took._

_This was life... it was nice..._

* * *

_'Mmmmmm~... w-whaaa~? Huh? What happened?'_

'You fell asleep. Just because your mind is not "linked" to your body does not mean it doesn't fatigue. During your rest, you missed some things.'

_'WHAT? What did I miss?'_

'Well... Sun went off to "crash" somewhere, Blake is staying at a decently clean hotel that I paid for, I looked over our gains from our fight with Dark Runner, and I'm currently situated in an abandoned home that I dusted with a bit of aura manipulation while thinking over what to do next.'

_'Oh... I have an idea on what to do next.'_

'Is it killing me?'

_'No, it's brutally murdering you for the shit you did before! Even if you make me some new friends, that's not going to replace the ones I've probably lost because of you! Now come on, why aren't we back at Beacon?'_

'I... missed the last flight back. If you truly want to return, then I suppose I could make the trip through the Grimm-infested forest to get back to Beacon.'

_'I... guuueeesssss~... that a Grimm-fighting trip to Beacon would be good. Alright, do it.'_

Exiting the building carefully, since it was nighttime, Jebediah took off in a sprint, aura pumping through his legs and hips to enhance and maintain his speed. Taking to the rooftops with a mighty leap, he traveled even faster with jumps and lunges.

Pouring on the speed, he leaped with all his might and went over the city's walls and into the forest, grinning from ear to ear, 'Now you see the results of my training, no?'

_'That... admittedly was pretty badass!'_

'So you agree I'm not ALL bad, right?'

_'Oh I knew that before you even first manifested in my soul. Dad used to talk about you, he doesn't anymore, but he did. I used to think you were SO cool, that you were the hottest shit possible, that you were the kind of hero that I looked up to being... then I met you... and I found out that you're a strict, unfriendly, unforgivable ASSHOLE! You haven't even so much as met Yang's gaze since you had my mouth and my voice yell at her. You haven't even eaten at the same time as my other friends. The only socialization you've done is with Raiden, Coco, Neo, and now Sun, and the fact that you've pushed my body to the past its limits and not, even, SLEPT... shows that you're unwilling to hand control back to me, you asshole piece of shit CUNTFACE!'_

'...'

_'What's wrong? No snarky comeback? No talk about how I'm just a child and should shut my fucking mouth? No lecture on respecting my elders? SAY SOMETHING DAMMIT!'_

'... saying things... was never my specialty... my father had that... not I... I was captain of the Grifball team... yet I was bullied by them for focusing on my mind rather than my body... when I graduated it was a godsend, and when the war started, I was all for it. I had pride in my country the likes of which you wouldn't believe. I was on Atlas' side when it came to ending The Great War... your father moved there briefly after his success in graduating from Beacon... he met your mother and they left to start a family in Vale... I moved to Vale not too long after, and died in battle after I missed your birth, having put fighting before family... I'm sorry.'

_'I... I see... I... suppose that I can accept your apology... and I will be putting you out of your misery later.'_

'Oh you have GOT to be FUCKING KIDDING ME! I spill my heart out to you and you STILL persist in the desire to strike me down? WHY?'

_'Just because I see and understand your reasoning does not mean that I think it is valid reasoning for pissing off my friends. I'm pretty sure they all think I'm growing distant because I'm depressed or something! If they think that then they'll think I need to see a counselor, then everything snowballs from there, I develop actual mental issues from all the poking and prodding, and I lose all my friends because I end up turning into an asshole! I! DON'T! WANT! THAT! I want to have a nice simple life with my simple goals and simple likes and simple dreams. I want to have a nice house and a nice car and a nice family and go out and kill Grimm during the day and come back home to a piping hot home-cooked meal and love from my wife and child(ren) and talk to and go out and have fun times with my friends. I can't just BE ALONE, growing up with both parents and seven lovely and precious little sisters, along with several great friends, has left me unable to manage being alone except for special things, like watching the sunset or sitting in the rainfall or stargazing or stuff like that...'_ Jaune stopped and sighed, shaking his head, _'Look... the message at the core of this rant is that while I respect you, I don't like you, and I may never truly like you, so stop trying to make me like you because you're just adding more pieces to the puzzle that in the end, I'M going to have to solve... and I don't particularly care for having more on my plate than I need to.'_

Jebediah remained silent, "So... when do you think you'll be ready to go back?"

Blake sighed, "Probably... tomorrow... can you please... just... hug me?" she squeezed his form as she slipped her arms into his jacket and wrapped them around his chest.

"S-sure." Jaune replied, Jebediah going a bit more quiet and letting him speak.

The ninja responded with a soft hum of gratitude, cuddling herself against the knight as she took in his warmth and comfort.

* * *

Jebediah watched Sun hold his teacup with his tail, musing on the usefulness of that. Together, they had gone to a nice cafe with a rooftop section, where they helped themselves to a table.

Blake sighed after drinking her whole cup of chamomile tea in one go, looking between the two blonds with her with a slightly glassy look in her eyes, "So... you two have probably both figured it out... yes, I was once part of the White Fang..." she sighed again, this time very heavily, as if letting go of a weight that was on her, "I was in it for most of my life... I was practically born into it. Back then, I was an idealistic child, and I grew into an idealistic teenager, even as the claws came out. I learned to fight outside of the kingdom, I was as bad of a criminal as you could get without using bombs or murder. I made it a point to not kill anyone... and one day, my partner... one of the leaders of the White Fang who had taken a special interest in me..." she began to tear up, "We were on a mission together, and he wanted to blow up a whole train car full of Dust... I left before that mission could be completed. I don't know what happened, I cut the ties both figuratively and literally, and left him and the cart stranded in the forest. I don't care what happened to him... he's not a part of my life anymore... and I'm not going back to their side."

The knight listened intently, and when the tale was fully told, he gently took the ninja into his arms as she began to shudder and cry.

Blake held onto Jaune as his aura began to glow a soft neon purple around them, filling her with a feeling of safety and comfort, and she felt a connection form as her pain inside lessened and lessened.

Jebediah sighed, "It's going to be okay... that life is over... Blake the Fang is no more... now you're Blake the Huntress-in-training... and one day you'll be Blake the Huntress, and people will love and respect you." he ran a hand through her soft, ribbony hair, feeling its plushness and warmth. He smiled down at her as she looked up at him with tears in her eyes. he gently kissed her forehead rubbing the back of her head and neck, and down her back in comforting, petting-like motions that soothed the cat faunus.

Blake felt conflicted. On one hand, the motions Jaune was making reminded her of younger years living with a family that she later found out only took her in because her father abandoned her and her half-sister's mother for reasons unknown. She had left to go do good for faunus-kind with the White Fang at only four, leaving her eight-year-old half-sister and her mother behind for a new life. She had said sister's number somewhere, just not somewhere she remembered at the moment. They hadn't talked in two years, but from what she understood, Naoto was now a detective of sorts, and had issues with her own femininity and faunus heritage.

Blake thankfully did not have issues with the first, but the second was... well she knew that if she was a human, life would be at least twenty times easier for her, and she had severe confidence issues. Growing up with people constantly hating or berating you for being different tended to drag you down. Compounded by her issues with Adam and Adam's issues with anger and his inability to put things lightly or sugarcoat them, and you get a condition where the thing you see in the mirror is something you despise.

However on the OTHER hand, that pain, that great and ever-stabbing pain in her heart, was waning in Jaune's presence. If only slowly and slightly, it at least took the edge off it, made it more bearable to live with.

She felt like he was a drug, one that she... well she wouldn't mind getting addicted to. She saw his qualities plainly, and now they were all multiplied by his acceptance of her bloodstained past. Jaune's value to her was now polished to a sheen.

Then it happened...

"Nyaaaaaaooooaaawwwn~." she let out an elongated, feline yawn.

_'Okay... putting aside my hate of you for a minute... CUUUUUUTE~!'_

Blake buried her face in Jaune's chest, hiding her powerful blush, "I'm tired... and I don't want to go back to the room."

"Hey, don't worry." he reassured her while soothingly rubbing her back, "I'll pay for a hotel room, you sleep there for the night, then go back in the morning."

"That's... nyice and all." the faunus blushed while yawning again, her control over her voice slipping a bit, "I... don't want to go back in the morning... or tomorrow afternoon... I don't want to go back AT ALL."

Jebediah paused, but Jaune spoke up, "No, don't talk like that." he forced her to look at him, easily overpowering her weak motions, "Listen, Blake Belladonna. You are a wonderful person, flaws be damned, past be wiped, you, yourself, and the person you are... that being is a good person. A good person doesn't run away from their friends in hard times, they cling tighter to that friendship, you depend on your friends as much as they depend on you. You're a whole fourth of Team RWBY, and you know what a Ruby is without a B?"

"N-n-nyo?" she stuttered out, her mind still reeling.

"A Rue... and rue is what you're going to do when you think back on this decision if you make this choice. I don't mind waiting a day or two, the hotel can be paid for, it's just money and I can get more easily, but what I CAN'T get more of easily is friendship... replacing the payments you make with money is a lot easier than replacing the payments you make with friendship, do you understand?"

Blake stared at Jaune's face, at the strong structure of it, his smooth skin and handsomeness, marred only by a large scar running perpendicular to his jawline... a scar she'd caused from her mistake... and if what Jaune said was true, then this mistake she was thinking of making was going to leave a lot worse of a mark that a simple scarring of the skin.

After a while, she gently ran her thumb over the mark, "I hurt you so badly... could have killed you... and you still treat me so nicely... why?"

"Hey, come on now, near-death experiences don't get me down. Yang nearly caved my skull in but I forgave her and we kept on being friends. I can heal a broken bone, but I can't so easily heal a broken friendship." he smiled his charming smile, "So come on, do I have to do what I do with my sisters to get you to cheer up?"

Her bow twitched slightly, "How do you cheer your sisters up?"

Jaune chuckled, then grinned a wide, happy, cheesy grin, and then..."Ryibbit."

Blake couldn't help but find the way the combination of his expression, his tone, and the sound itself came together to be ridiculously hilarious, and burst out into a fit of giggles.

While the knight and the ninja spoke, the monk watched them, musing, 'I fear what might happen if Jaune has dumb-lucked his way to grabbing the attention of more than two girls...' he drained his teacup and set it down, his mouth turned into a thin crease as he thought on the issue.

Vale was... an interesting kingdom.

* * *

Weiss was pissed, to say the least.

After being talked down upon by Raiden, having her support from Luke dismissed by a call, and now without someone to talk to, she was sulking.

Ruby looked at the sad heiress from her position atop her bunk, her head upside down as she looked over and around the edge, "Don't be sad, Weiss."

The heiress flinched at the sudden voice, immediately followed by a squawk of surprise from seeing Ruby upside down, "RUBY! Don't surprise me like that!"

The reaper nodded with a light frown, flipping off her bunk and landing expertly beside her partner on her bed, "You wanna talk about it?"

"I 'wanna' cave Blake's skull in for siccing that Raiden fellow on me. The nerve of him, calling me immature." she crossed her arms over her chest and pouted in indignation.

"I agree with one thing, and that is that Yang is the most immature of all of us."

"Hey~." came Yang's weak retort, rolling over to face her sister and her partner, "I am not immature~... I'm probably the only one of us who's ever drank alcohol."

"You still have Captain Clawsy." Ruby pointed out, "He's under your pillow and I saw you pull him out when that storm hit a couple weeks ago."

"Captain Clawsy?" Weiss repeated in confusion.

"A stuffed tiger toy she got from the Gravelstone Pier a few years back. It has an attachable sea captain's hat."

"Hey! I'll have you know that I did not get it intentionally. I was playing that stupid rigged bottle game and I lost and then some boy won it and gave it to me." the brawler explained, pouting at her sister.

"And you kept it, so obviously you liked it." Ruby added with a teasing grin, happy to finally have the tables turned on her older sister.

"Sh-sh-shut up~!"

Weiss joined in, feeling that a little lighthearted fun-poking would cheer her up, "You still play with stuffed animals, that's easily more immature."

Yang buried her head in her pillow, pouting before turning her head away, mumbling something just barely inaudible.

"What was that?" Ruby craned her neck to hear Yang's grumbling.

The blonde turned to her teammates, "I SAID~!... Stupid cute boy with his stupid blonde mop and his stupid pretty blue eyes and his stupid cute face and his stupid stylish clothes and his stupid gaming knowledge and HOLY SHIT!"

"Swear!" Ruby called out and looked for the swear jar, only to blink and recall that it was still back home, "Er... nevermind... but what is it, sis?"

"I just remembered! The boy! The boy who got me the toy! Blonde hair, blue eyes, cute face, black button-up, blue jeans, black sneakers, orange bandanna around his neck... IT WAS JAUNE!"

Weiss and Ruby looked at each other, then at Yang, speaking at the same time, "You sure?"

"I'm pretty sure he's the only blonde guy our age who'd have the two crescent moons symbol thingy." Yang pointed out, grinning widely, "Haha~!"

It was at this point the fencer slipped, "Dammit she's already so ahead..." her thoughts slipped out into spoken words.

"So ahead?" Ruby questioned, looking at Weiss, "What's she ahead in, Jaune liking her?..." realization spread across Ruby's face, "DON'T TELL ME YOU WANT HIM TOO!" she cried out in disbelief.

Weiss blushed, then gently placed a hand on Ruby's back... and forcefully shoved her off the bed, "SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP! He took me to church and I felt really uplifted and it was nice and I realized that he's not some greedy asshole, he's just a kindhearted fool! DON'T BE A DUNCE!" the white-haired girl covered her whole body tightly in her blankets, not speaking.

Yang sighed, feeling a storm on the horizon... something was going to happen, something big.

* * *

Jebediah sighed, feeling an omen, a crackle of distant thunder, "A storm is rising... and here I am lying... lying under the open sky, waiting for the rain to pour, to pour down on my... on my heart, and wash away... wash away the pain I'm feeling... and when it's done... I'll see the light of day." he made the poem up as he went, speaking in a broken scheme as he walked with his hands in his pockets, trying to clear his reeling mind.

An unfamiliar voice spoke up, "You know... that actually describes my feelings quite well." a tall man, slightly taller than Jaune, stepped out into the open. His hair was brown with heavy red highlights, his eyes were covered by a pair of white-rimmed sunglasses, and he wore a black trench coat over a smaller, lighter coat. His hands were covered by thick brown gloves, "Who are you?"

"J-jaune, Jaune Arc, and you?" his hand fell to Crocea Mors on his belt, but didn't quite touch it, instead resting near it.

"Just call me Adam." the man, now identified as Adam, said, "So... what are you doing in this part of town?"

"Walking, trying to clear my head, hoping not to pick any fights, but prepared in case someone picks one for me." he explained, noticing the weapon poking out from under Adam's trechcoat.

"I see... well... I'm in a good mood tonight, so walk with me and nobody will be... picking fights for you." the faunus couldn't explain it... something about this blonde boy intrigued him, and despite being armed he seemed to be so afraid and meek. If it came to a fight, Adam was sure he'd win.

"Thank you, Adam, you're a good egg and a greater man." Jebediah said with a small laugh, trying to lighten his own mood.

"Tch, many would disagree with you."

"Well many would be wrong. Call it a hunch but I assume you've got goals for goodness."

"What makes you say that? I could be leading you into an ambush."

"First off, nobody who would actually be leading me into an ambush would actually _say_ that they _could_ be leading me into an ambush. Secondly, I can tell by the way you walk. A subtle confidence, humility shining above your own pride. Perhaps you're fighting for a lost cause, or maybe you feel it's lost. Whatever you're fighting for, I implore you to have faith." he smiled a warm, friendly smile at the slightly taller man.

Adam nearly stopped walking as his mind mulled over the new information. He was feeling down on his luck after having to punch his way out of a failed mission, and seeing a dozen men get taken down and taken into custody. He had come out here to muse and to drink, but the bar he usually went to was closed for renovations, leaving him dry.

Then out of nowhere, a fancy-speaking human boy walks past his alleyway of brooding, describing his feelings pretty accurately.

If he could just have one lucky break, he'd be happy. Just one, even if only one, he could remember it.

"You look like you want to scream your frustrations out to the heavens." the veteran piped up, his tone mildly amused.

"Don't we all, sometimes?" the samurai replied simply, laughing lightly for a second or two.

"I've felt like it since I left the motel..." the knight looked at his shoes, "I've been rather down on my luck. I've felt like someone wants to kill me, I was attacked earlier today, my friends have fought and divided themselves over the petty arguments of affiliations with the White Fang... in all honesty, to me it doesn't amount to a molehill."

"I'm afraid I don't understand. Explain."

Suddenly, Adam found himself slammed against the brick wall behind him, hard enough that the bricks cracked from the force. An expression that should have been impossible for a face so young to make had formed on Jaune's visage, the face of a man who had looked into the abyss and seen its own eyes looking back at him. "It doesn't fucking matter in the end! White Fang, Black Fang, Red Ranger, Atlesian, Valean, Mistralian, Vacuan, human or faunus or halfway between or halfway out, man woman and child, teenager senior infantpregnantmothersanddyingmothersALLOFITDIES!" he lost his composure, his strength failing him as he released Adam and fell to his knees crying, "The Grimm don't see a difference between the mightiest Hunter and the lowliest scum, they see life not their own and they want to snuff it out, to destroy it. A man who lives his life smiling... might not get famous, but he also has a far lower chance of being torn limb from limb by a Beowolf." he coughed in the cold night air, "My family is a line of heroes, people who save others and make them feel happy and safe."

"Ah, a destiny you don't want to uphold, maybe?" Adam didn't read often, nor did he often feel sympathetic, but crying people just seemed to... get to him, every time. The throwing him backwards thing was more forgivable, he wasn't even really hurt by it at all, just more confused.

"No, I want nothing more to be a hero, to save lives and to be the one they sing about. I want to bring happiness to everyone." his aura flared up around him, a purple neon that flickered and popped like a fireplace running out of fuel, "My father is a healer who could touch a thousand lives and ask for only smiles in return, my grandfather defended people with not a single thought for his own injury, my great grandfather fought with speed matched only by few and his charisma shone with all the colors of the dawn and the dusk, and my great great grandfather imagined and created machinations that influence science to this day, and he was one of the men who ended the Great War... how am I supposed to live up to that?"

"I... have no fucking clue." the faunus shrugged, "But just be yourself, it should come to you. It came to them, so it'll come to you." he reassured, shaking the blonde by his shoulder.

Jebediah felt something welling up inside of him... and promptly stood up, leapt to a nearby rooftop, and proceeded to throw up.

"Well I have literally nothing to do all week, so I'm feeling like an outside voice might keep me sane." the brunette said as he jumped up to land a few feet away from the blonde.

"Heh, lucky me, I've made a new friend." the knight cringed as he used his aura to reabsorb the vomit residue in his mouth, cleaning it out better than water rinsing could, but still leaving a sour taste in his mouth, "I guess this deserves a celebration. You wanna get some beer?"

"Haha, you're speaking my language." Adam grinned almost viciously.

Standing up tall and a lot more proud that before, Jebediah took the lead and sought out a bar.

* * *

_Darkness, laughing voices, fear._

_Four of them, one of her, all of them so much older and bigger and stronger._

_She wants to be strong._

_MOM!_

_No!_

_Her cloak was taken from her, ripped away from her body by the cruel hands of a bully._

_She... HATED... bullies..._

_Suddenly, a shining golden light. Sister? No... this was a boy. Her sister was not a boy, she knew from simple logic._

_Still, she was only five years old, how could she be blamed for at first confusing her sister for someone else?_

_"RUN!" he said to her as his fists started swinging, hitting the faces and bodies of people older than him, but not that much larger._

_She ran, she hid at the top of the slide as the fight continued. She started crying and crying and crying._

_Suddenly, she felt a presence to her side, looking she blearily confused the figure for one of the bullies and shrieked, throwing a quick jab and sliding down the slide, softly collapsing at the bottom as she landed on her tiny rear._

_The boy took the blow and hopped off the steps up to the slide, ignoring the gravel that dug into his hands, focusing on the task at hand. He walked briskly over to her, stopping in front of her and helping her up._

_"Sssshhhhhhshshshshsh~... it's okay~." he hugged her softly, smiling reassuringly, like her sister would, but also like a boy, so... like a brother would?_

_However he did it, his embrace felt comforting to her. and her tears slowed and ceased, "They... t-t-t-took my cloak..."_

_"Yeah~... but I took it back." he held up the red mass of fabric, smiling at her._

_She was awestruck. A hero out of nowhere, and he was hardly older than her! She put it on, feeling safe and warm inside it, and looking up at him, "What's your name?"_

_"Uh... just call me Luna." he said awkwardly, smiling sheepishly._

_She accepted it without hesitation, "Thank you, Luna." she kissed his cheek without a second thought, smiling happily._

_He looked at her, then at his watch, "Oh well look at the time it's close to three o'clock so I should get going." he ran off through the opposite entrance to the playground as she had come in.  
_

_She watched him go, reaching out futilely just as her sister arrived. Who was he? Why did he help her? What made him run off?_

_With no answers, she still felt clear on one thing. She wanted to meet him again._

Ruby yawned and stretched as she rose from her bed, looking around the room with bleary eyes before rubbing the sleep out of them. Seeing a black figure in Blake's bed, she smiled, but when her vision cleared, she saw it was just Fenerion, who had passed out in their room last night and apparently been moved to the nearest bed that wouldn't earn the kind soul a scream of indignation from Weiss.

Hopping out of bed and stretching the rest of her body, she thought back to her dream as she gathered her toiletries, already running through it a third time as she walked to the communal shower.

She thought about the boy in particular, not wanting to mull over the bullies. She hummed as she stripped naked and got into a shower stall. Who was he? Why did she dream of that day? What was the significance of it? All these questions and more buzzed through her brain as she got the water up to temperature and stepped under the spray.

As the warm water hit her head, the realization hit her mind.

Jaune. Jaune Arc, her best friend, her friend for life.

He'd been there. He'd been on the island of Patch, on that specific day, during that specific time, at that specific playground, and he'd made that specific choice to save her. When he was done, he'd acted like the sheer magnitude of the miracle that had taken place hadn't mattered, that he'd just done 'what he needed to', and he'd left right after. He'd put a smile on her face and ran off with just the sentiment of that smile as his payment.

He had protected her when she needed it, and he'd made her happy...

She felt warmth on her cheeks that clearly wasn't from the shower, and held her face in her hand, "He's... amazing..." she smiled, feeling like her heart was melting at the sentiment she held for the memory.

With ignited motivation, she put twice the effort into her routine with the hopes of looking prettier for him.

* * *

_Gravelstone Pier, a place she didn't often come to, but today was different._

_She smiled as her fourteen-year-old legs carried her forward, the sun shining in her long blond locks as she smiled, feeling the proud fire of acing her first test in Signal Academy._

_Giggling lightly in joy, she walked with a skip in her step, feeling happy._

_Looking around at the games, she found one that she felt she could beat. Six bottles stacked up and she just had to knock them down with a thrown baseball, simple enough._

_She missed, and missed, and missed, and missed, and missed._

_And missed and missed and missed again!_

_She hit it with her fourteenth ball, but only managed to knock down one bottle._

_She sat next the stand, pouting and feeling on the verge of tears when she realized she spent over half her accumulated allowance on this stupid game and all she had to show for it was a tiny foam baseball._

_Suddenly, a new presence arrived, "Hey, you okay?" he said._

_She looked up and saw bright blue eyes and a slightly shadowed face, "No... I spent half my money on this STUPID GAME!" she pouted more and crossed her arms over her chest._

_"Which prize were you trying to get?" he asked, looking at the shelves_

_"The sailor tiger..." came her meek, sniffling response._

_The boy paid for a ball, took aim, and threw it. It missed, as did the next one, but the third struck perfectly, knocking all the bottles over. Grinning, he looked at the man running the stand, "I'll be taking that sailor tiger, please."_

_Yang sobbed. She couldn't believe it! She wastes half her precious allowance on one single game with no desirable reward, and then some random boy walks up, asks her what she had wanted to win, and now he was going to take it for himself!_

_Suddenly, her light flow of tears was stopped when she felt something soft and fuzzy being pressed into her hand. Turning her head, she saw the boy was smiling at her, putting the plush into her hand, "Here, you wanted it so I got it for you."_

_In an instant, Yang felt a little surge of girlish joy rush through her, "Th-th-thank you." she grasped the toy._

_"H-hey, no problem." he brushed off with a shrug, "Just... don't cry, please? Girls shouldn't cry, especially not pretty girls like you. You should smile~." he spoke with a gentle, tender tone as he pulled out a handkerchief and, with a tender loving care, wiped away the tears that had fallen. When he was done, he helped her up to her feet, smiling and giving her a quick hug._

_Yang blushed softly, the pink color burning on her cheeks in an oddly comfortable way. She smiled and hugged the soft toy to her even softer chest, cuddling it a bit, "Thank you."_

_"Hehe, just trying to be a hero and stuff." he said while scratching the back of his head._

_The lilac-eyed brawler giggled, "Well hero, here's your reward~." she gave him a soft, warm, sweet little kiss on the cheek, grinning at the blush that quickly formed on her toy's savior's face._

_"Uhhh... n-n-n-no proble-" he paused and went a little pale when his scroll beeped rhythmically, "Oh god that's my mom! Oh god she's gonna kill me if she finds out I-" he had started hastily walking away when Yang piped up._

_"H-hey! What's your name?" she asked him_

_"Dead man if I don't get back to my mom! S-sorry to have to run like this but I gotta go!" without another word, he ran off._

_Yang watched as the mysterious boy vanished around the corner. Slowly, she walked to the corner and looked around it, but he was already gone, leaving her to wonder who he was._

_She didn't know who he was, but she wanted to... after she spent some time enjoying the company of Captain Clawsy, that is._

Yang's eyes cracked open, taking in the late-morning light as it streamed through the dorm's window.

That dream... that boy...

She reached under her pillow, pulling out the soft plush and hugging it to her even softer chest, closing her eyes and letting out a low hum.

This toy was one of her most treasured possessions, partly because it was adorable beyond belief, but mostly because of the sentiment it held.

She didn't know why he was there, exactly. Maybe he'd been on a vacation? She had no way of telling.

She did know, however, that he had won a lot of points with her for that move.

And she'd be watching out for any more.

* * *

Jebediah brushed his hand over his face as he walked through downtown Vale City. He looked to his left hip, where he had a flask of extra-strong whiskey in his pocket

Due to having more than enough aura to spare, the veteran was easily able to out-drink the faunus in their impromptu contest. After his companion had passed out, he decided to watch him for a little while, then leave to find an abandoned house to stake the night out in, simply dosing himself up with sleep suppressants and using a few memories of war to keep wide awake.

He was now dressed in the new outfit he'd gotten with Coco, smiling as he felt more relaxed than before, less weighed down by the past, and even more able to breathe.

Jaune silently stewed as everything over the past few days weighed on him, especially his grandfather's insistence on not letting him take control of his own body, though he was sure that it was because this would be the last time he'd take control.

Together, the two blondes, one purple-eyed, one blue-eyed, were prepared to take on whatever the day threw at them.

Sadly, neither of them knew the magnitude of the things that were going to be thrown.

* * *

**So... I have few excuses, except just one umbrella term.**

**College**

**College has been hell on me and if I don't succeed in it, then I won't get to have ANY time to write new chapters to the story**

**While writing this, I lost like 4000 words at the start of the Dark Runner fight due to a glitch, and I felt like fucking throwing up because that set me back a whole fucking month (given my splotchy, uneven writing schedule, that's a lot longer than it should have taken)! I was distraught and in a rage, but I calmed down and wrote**

**I know it's been more than 5 months since the last update, but the next update will be before April, I promise you that!**

**Also WOW on volume 3! Like... HOLY SHIT. I have to claim fanfiction divergence because my plans conflict pretty much completely with canon, but I will abide by it where I can. Otherwise, it's free game! *evil laughter***


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